


Exorcist Blues (Wilde Spirit remix)

by raynos



Series: Wilde Spirit [1]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Hunters, Folklore, Gen, Ghosts, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Not Beta Read, Supernatural Elements, Zistopia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-02 13:09:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6567649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raynos/pseuds/raynos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Judy Hopps wants to be the first exorcist in a long line of rabbit mediums. But this is a dangerous ambition in a Zootopia where the spirits of animals don't move on after death.  Judy will have to deal with guardian spirits, dark spirits, and worst of all, fox spirits.</p>
<p>Or: A Zootopia remix in which Judy Hopps is an exorcist that specialises in hunting dark spirits.  And Nick Wilde is dead, but not gone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Is it evil spirits this time Mom?"

The sheep across from Judy nearly upset the table in her panic. Only Judy's quick reflexes saved the crystal ball from being knocked off and unceremoniously reduced to shards, though she had to juggle her wooden sword to do so. She hefted the ball back up onto the table, then assured the sheep, "Don't worry. If there are you can count on me! I'm training to be an exorcist to stab any evil spirits that come our way!"

Judy's mom took a deep breath and smiled sweet as pie at her customer who was no quivering all the way to her woolly tips. "Give me a moment." Then she fixed Judy with The Look that was all Bonnie Hopps and had nothing in common with Aunt Martha's delicious pies. "Judy Hopps. What did I tell you when I agreed to let you come along with me to the fair."

"To sit quiet and not say anything to the customers or the spirits they want to talk to," said Judy, honest even if it meant trouble some time in her future. But she liked to think she was smart, so had to add, "But Mom! I was talking to you and you didn't answer so I had to - " Judy scrunched her face and sounded out the word to get it right. "Re-a-ssure her - "

Mom cut Judy's explanation short. "Where's your Great-Uncle Albert?"

"He's right here." Her Mom's guardian spirit simply stuck his head through the curtain without pushing it aside. Judy was envious. _He_ could choose to come and go as he liked without disturbing the material world, which meant her mom just sighed and let him do what he liked. "Don't know why you need me. This one will take care of any dark spirits." He winked at Judy, which was why he was her favourite of all the ancestral spirits that hung around the Hopps home.

"You're the only ancestor who knows how to fight," Mom sighed for the few hundredth time and turned Judy around with a firm paw. "Don't let her in the tent anymore."

"Why? Is she hiding dark spirits somewhere? Let me at them!" Judy giggle as the spirit did a quick twirl around her, sending a warm comforting spring breeze spinning through the tent.

"That's just my guardian making sure everything is ok," Mom clarified to her customer, even though she was still pushing Judy towards the exit. Judy shouldered her sword and went back out through the tent flap, unable to keep her ears up any longer.

She wasn't expecting the gentle shove from Great-Uncle Albert. It wasn't a strong one, and she felt it more at the soul level than the physical. She turned to him, eyes wide. "But Great-Uncle!"

"Your mom's right. Passing messages to the departed isn't the most dangerous part of a medium's work, but any communication with spirits is finicky and requires concentration." He jabbed a finger at the crowd that was filled with the living and the departed alike. "The fair's chaotic enough as it is. You'll give your mom a headache if you keep flitting in and out like that."

"But!"

"There's more fun things elsewhere in the fair. And don't go batting your pretty big eyes at me, I'm dead and immune to this stuff."

That wasn't what Great times infinity Grandma had said whenever she cooed over Judy's pretty purple eyes, but Great Uncle Albert was made of sterner stuff. Judy didn't even have the energy to keep her wooden sword from making furrows in the ground as she dragged it into the fair proper. Animals might have accepted that the dead hung around longer than necessary, but they still didn't exactly like spirits and those who associated with them to be any closer than necessary. It messed with the crops, the older folks would say.

Judy didn't think that was right. The older folks certainly didn't seem to realise that the Hopps' farm grew their vegetables and fruits just fine regardless of the solid line of Hopps' mediums. In fact, the produce on display at the fair did little to attract Judy. She'd seen bigger and juicer in her own groves and fields.

"Most of them can't see spirits anyway," she grumbled, as she watched a woodchuck spirit gnaw on a pumpkin of a particularly superstitious neighbour. Animals could keep the more visible aspects of the spirit world away, but they couldn't keep the spirits themselves from going where they would.

Out of the corner of her eye, Judy spotted the flicker of multiple fox tails.

Judy knew she was a curious kit. Great Uncle Albert would say it with a chuckle and her Mom would say it with a sigh, but she had heard it often enough. Judy had been reading enough of the Hopps books to be curious about this many tailed fox. How had this spirit managed to stick around for so long without being encouraged to move on? Now that was a question best resolved by an exorcist.

Judy pretended she was still browsing the fruits. Spirits were best spotted out of the corner of the eye. Sure enough, Judy saw the flutter of tails again after she'd counted her seventh apple.

This time Judy was prepared enough to catch the aura stealing past her senses like a fluffy fox tail. The impression might have been too brief for other types of animals, but Judy was a rabbit. Now she knew what the spirit's aura felt like, she would be able to detect it even with the tips of her whiskers.

She left the fruits and followed the spirit through the crowds, always making sure to keep a few souls between her and the departed soul she was tracking. It was easy enough for the exorcist in training that Judy was. She made use of her current small size to take shortcuts under tables.

That was how she got her first glimpse of the fox spirit. He'd stopped at one of the tables Judy was currently under, staring at something she couldn't see from where she was. She didn't share the same interest as a fox spirit anyway. _Her_ focus was in counting the number of fox trails. Just to be sure she counted aloud, keeping to a whisper only she could hear. "One... two.."

She wasn't expected the last number she ended up on, and so her "Nine" came out as a squeak. She clapped her hands over her mouth to hold the sound in even as her mind raced. If the number of tails was right, the fox had to be a few centuries old!

Unware of Judy's squeal of her rushing thoughts, the fox decided to make his move. In a blink, he had nabbed whatever he was after on the table and was off through the crowd.

A pursuit! The exorcists Judy had read about were always in pursuit. An dit just so happened rabbits were made for running.

But she had forgotten that just because a spirit was powerful enough to touch the material world, it didn't mean the spirit itself would become solid. The fox walked right through people in the crowd like Great-Uncle Albert had gone right through the curtain. Judy had to zig, and zag, and carry a great big wooden sword all the while.

Still Judy preserved. The exorcists she read about might be oxes or horses that hefted ceremonial swords with ease, but Judy was going to show them all.

She caught sight of the fox zipping through the back screen of a stall and stop. This was the end of the pursuit. She could sense the aura of another fox nearby. Did the fox spirit have friends? She crept forward, cautious until she could peek through the gap between where the screen was tied to the support.

The fox spirit she had spotted and a fox kit were bent over a row of fair tickets, counting their haul. Judy recognised the kit. Gideon Gray was always the last to class since he lived so far away. Dad had told her that foxes didn't have a clear understanding of ownership, which only got worse as they moved on through the reincarnation cycle. People didn't like to live near foxes that were willing to consider your belongings as their own.

But even though the spirit was pale white and Gideon was red, it was clear they were related. Great Uncle Albert had often tweaked Judy's ear in affection as the fox spirit was doing with Gideon now. The spirit had to be a Gray Ancestor. Who was Judy to interfere with what an ancestor got up to?

"Gideon Gray!" Gideon looked up from stuffing his new fair stickers with the others in his already overflowing overall pocket. Maisey stomped, sheep hooves kicking up grass. "Give that back!"

Gideon looked guilty as he shoved said tickets out of sight, but he was all swagger as he insisted, "These are all mine!"

"No they ain't! That one's got my aura on it!" Maisey would have stomped right up to Gideon if the fox spirit hadn't shoved her back.

Ancestor or not, that will wasn't right. Mind made up, Judy stepped out from her temporary shelter, sword in hand. "Stop that!"

Maisey grabbed Judy. "G-ghost! Can you see it? Does it look awful? Oh it felt awful enough when it touched me!"

Judy patted Maisey's hand but pushed her classmate behind her. "Give back the tickets!"

"I said they ain't hers! You sure have bad hearing for a bunny."

"I don't need to hear when I can see Maisey's aura on the tickets just fine. Give thme back!"

"Oh yeah? What's a bunny going to do to make me?"

Her sword swished through the air as Judy brought it down to point at the Grays.

"Fake sword for a fake exhaust," Gideon sneered.

"It's exorcist!" Maisey groaned. "You're a dummy Gideon!"

"No you!"

"Now now," Unlike Gideon who rushed his words like he would forget them if he stopped to think, the Gray ancestor had a rather lazy way of speaking, as if he was more used to the forever that spirits had. "Don't go swishing that around if you don't know what that does."

Obviously he didn't know Judy was a Hopps. Judy had gone along with her Dad when they went to the orchard on a full moon night and asked the apple tree nicely for a branch to make her sword. She knew the right way to make her sword glow, though she wasn't quite sure why she had to do it. Didn't matter. The fox spirit had shrank back like all the dark spirits did in the shows.

Judy's victory was cut short by a very solid punch to the face.

The ground was just as hard on her back, making Judy slow in pulling herself together and replaying what had happened. She'd been so distracted by the spirit that she'd forgotten about Gideon. 

Who was going to punch her just as he did the first time, from the way his fist was drawn back. Frantic, Judy slapped away his hand with her sword.

She didn't see the slash, just felt the white hot soul deep pain split her face. Eyes closed, she just focused on the bits of aura that made sense through the pain.

That was why she knew the exact moment Great-Uncle Albert appeared. She opened her eyes to see him standing right in front of her.

"I ain't saying she was right to wave her sword at your boy," said Great-Uncle Albert. "But that was too far Gray."

Gray sniffed. "Which Hopps are you again?"

"The one who's going to make you feel real sorry if you don't turn around and leave while you can."

Judy didn't get to see the Grays leaving. Great-Uncle Albert and crouched down to check Judy's wound and just so happened to block her view.

"You dad will need to take a look at that."

"Yeah," Judy managed around the huge lump in her throat. "Maisey?"'

"Your cheek," Maisey blubbered. "That spirit was so mean!"

Judy didn't have anything to say to that. She just held out the tickets to Maisey.

Maisey sobbed even harder as she pulled Judy into a hug. Great-Uncle Albert tugged on his ear. "Never through I'd see the day a fox got outfoxed."

 

The moon was new enough to just be a sliver in the sky, which was why shoots and all the growing and green things were going into Dad's basket.

"Good thing you're just a bit of a thing, or these won't have any use on you."

Judy preferred to look at the moon and forgot about her wound. But Dad was turning her cheek so he could get a better look at it. Then he bustled about the grove as he added more things to his basket, humming all the while. That meant he was thinking.

"Jude. Jude the dude," he intoned without breaking the melody. He let the tune drop as he put on his Serious Dad voice. "Judes what did I tell you when you wanted to bring that sword this morning?"

"Whack spirits not people," Judy duly recited.

"Well that too. But the point of that sword was to keep the spirit distracted enough so you could urn like the blazes as soon as you could."

"Exorcists don't run from fights!"

"Maybe they don't. But rabbits do." Dad had gathered all he needed, and was now sorting through the various plants. "We're sensitive to everything spiritual. We can track any aura we've felt once, we can open any path as long as it's been used a spirit, and any one attack goes soul deep for us." He plucked one of the leaves he had gathered and pressed it to Judy's cheek. Immediately her wound felt nicely cool. "A dark spirit that needs an exorcist will be looking to injure worst than that."

"I'll get faster. They won't get me the next time."

"Jude, there are things that come easier to certain animals and spirits. For rabbits it's tracking. For dark spirits their stealing and all the bad things they do give them skills that make it easier for them to hurt and disturb others. If you become an exorcist, that's what you'll have to face every day."

"Dad, this is something I have to try."

"Is settling really that bad?" Dad had poured ingredients into a bowl and now pressed down with the pestle. The burst of green and growth filled the air and mixed with the moonlight. "When your Mom and I talked about being Settlers earlier, we didn't just settle for what we had. Being a Settler means stomping out the ground you're standing on and staking your claim. Making it your own and taking care of it.

That was what he was doing now as he ground the plants. He was a Hopps rabbit on Hopps ground. He had taken care of the land like his father and his father before him and so the land took care of him and his own. Judy was awfully grateful for it all as her Dad removed the first leaf and applied the newly made poultice to her face.

"There, that should take care of the worst of the aura." He rummaged in his carry bag and dug out a clean cloth, which he started to secure to Judy's face. "It'll still scar at the soul level, but you only need to worry about that after you're dead."

"Thanks Dad."

"The best thanks you can give me is not to get hurt again."

"I won't."

Dad's ears shot right up. "Really? No more exorcist stuff?'

"I'll just be fast enough that dark spirits won't ever catch me again."

His perked ears dropped. "Well. I guess that counts for something."

Judy felt the cool cloth now covering her face, then hugged her dad tight. "You're a Tryer too Dad."

Dad chuckled as he patted the top of her head. "Not a very good one. I tried but you still want to be an exorcist."

 

Trying had brought Judy all the way here: on a stage receiving her exorcist sword.

Even though the sword was real metal and not the wooden one she had carried around in her childhood, Judy carried the weight easily now. Academy had built her up to be a proper exorcist, and she was grateful for her training.

Over the sword, Assistant Mayor Bellwehter beamed at her. "Congratulations on joining the Zootopia Exorcist Department." The sheep might have said more, if a lion ancestor spirit hadn't nudged her out of the way. On the ancestor's tail followed the Mayor of Zootopia, Leodore Lionheart.

"Judy Hopps." As a much taller lion, he had to bend down to shake her hand. Judy slung the sword strap over her shoulder so she could shake his hand. "How does it feel to be ZED's first rabbit exorcist?"

"I'm really honoured and grateful for the chance," said Judy, as Mayor Lionheart steered her to face the cameras. His ancestor spirits that had filled the stage shifted to give them more space.

"Of course," Mayor Lionheart agreed, before saying to the reporters. "The Mammal Inclusion Initiatives gives opportunities to predator and prey, living and dead alike. I hope Judy today will be the first of many to benefit from this scheme."

Cameras flashed and Judy knew she was giving her biggest and brightest smile. This was all she had hoped for and more.

She was still buoyant as she left the stage, but was surprised when Assistant Mayor Bellwether followed. "Aren't you giving out the rest of the swords?'

"Oh it'll be much too hard for me to the swords to the others, they're so much taller. It's not as if there's any space for me up there either." Indeed Mayor Lionheart seemed to have brought his full set of ancestors with him, they now formed a backdrop to the other exorcists receiving their swords.

"I'm surprised there are so many spirits here." Other than the lions, there were many ancestors in the applauding crowd.

"More of the living in Zootopia are able to see spirits, and there's a lot more interaction between the living and departed." Bellwether looked past Judy. "Is that your family?"

"Yes Assistant Mayor. This is my father Stu Hopps and mother Bonnie Hopps. Dad, Mom, Assistant Mayor Bellwether." Handshakes were exchanged all around.

"Aren't you from that Bellwether family up in the Meadows?" Dad asked over his handshake.

"I am indeed. I gave up the family business when I went into politics. All I've got left is this bell as a memento." Bellwether showed a small hand bell to the Hopps.

"That's still a finely made bell."

"My wife's in the same line as your family. We've got us a medium, a healer and an exorcist right here. Almost sounds like the beginning of a joke."

Judy shared a look with Mom, but Bellwether just laughed along with Dad's chuckles. "That just proves how talented your family is. Oh. Oh dear." One of Mayor Lionheart's ancestors had come down from the stage and now was gesturing to Bellwether. I think I'm needed. Judy, do look me up when you get to Zootopia. Us little folk have to look out for each other."

"Thanks," Judy called after Bellwether, who had to walk faster as the lion spirit had hooked its claws into her sleeve to drag her forward.

"Good to know our sort of people are also in Zootopia. Sounds like a person you can rely on."

"Dad, she's the Assistant Mayor. She was just being friendly. I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it."

"Well there's no harm in asking her for help if you need any."

"Your Dad's right. Zootopia is far away, and you won't have us or your siblings to rely on."

"I can take care of myself." Judy gestured to the sword slung across her back. "I'm a full-fledged exorcist now."

"Who will be fighting spirits."

"Dark spirits," Judy's dad chipped in. "Remember what I said about dark spirits. They're well-versed in ways to hurt."

Judy laughed. "Mom, Dad, I am fully prepared for anything that comes my way. This sword is a sign I'm a qualified exorcist now."

"You could be even better prepared. Exorcists are allowed to have guardian spirits," Mom said. "Are you sure you don't want to ask your Great-Uncle Albert to go with?"

"Did someone call me?"

Great-Uncle Albert!" Judy put just enough pressure in her hug so Great-Uncle could feel it without Judy sliding right through him. He hugged her right back, then stepped back to get a good look at her. "That's our Judy. All grown up with a proper sword and all."

"But she could use a good guardian to watch her back," Mom pressed. "You must be tired of watching mine by now. Are you sure you aren't going to Zootopia with her?'

Great-Uncle Albert tugged on his ear. "Judy and I talked it over, yes. She's a grown woman Bonnie. Besides, after she got the better of Gray I think she ought to be fine."

"Fox spirits are especially tricky," Bonnie admitted. "But that's why you have to watch out for them. Your Dad and I made this for you." She took Judy's hand and dropped a pouch of bits and ends in it.

Judy glanced over her shoulder for foxes that she knew weren't there, but she had to be sure. "Mom! You could have hurt someone!"

"No fox is going to appear at a proper venue like this."

"Your Mom and I would be more comfortable if you kept this by you."

Judy shoved the bag in her pocket before anyone saw it. Just to be sure she started to steer her parents away from the stage. "So I hear there's going to be a big party. Is Mom going to make her carrot cake?"

"Martha said she was going to make some pies," Mom said, mind probably running through the details of the party. "Do you want a cake?'

"Why don't you talk to Aunt Martha about that? Dad, you know how Uncle Terry really gets into things. Why don't you see how he's preparing for the party?"

Parents diverted to the party, Judy allowed herself a sigh and a seat at the back of the graduation ceremony that was still continuing. She had a few classmates to cheer on. Great-Uncle Albert drifted over to hover by Judy's shoulder. "Your Dad and Mom didn't say it, but they're real proud of you too."

"I know. Coming to the ceremony and the big party after..." Judy blinked away tears and Great-Uncle Albert was really interested in the horizon. "You'll look after them for me, won't you?'

"I was fighting Commies and dealing with uppity spirits longer before you were born. Don't you go telling me what to do." He tweaked Judy's ear, then set her exorcist cap on top of her head. "You don't worry about a thing here. Enjoy yourself in Zootopia, you hear?'

Judy grinned up at him. "I will Great-Uncle."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I've only watched Zootopia once, liberties were taken in remixing the events and conversations, hopefully in fun ways. Please be gentle if I've veered too far from the actual movie.
> 
> While I've veered away from any religious references (I hope!), the spirits and spells vaguely reference Asian ghost stories (nine-tailed foxes anyone?), with other random things thrown in.


	2. Chapter 2

Zootopia was great and amazing and everything Judy had hoped for... with the minor exception of her job.

Her first day, the Chief Exorcist at ZED had dropped a thick folder in front of her and said, "Hopps, house calls."

One useful thing from her time at the Academy was that Judy got used to looking up at and holding her ground with much larger animals than those from the Triburrows. Considering the number of elephant exorcists a cape buffalo was considered on the smaller side. "Sir?"

"Dismissed."

"Chief Bogo!" Judy slid off the chair and hurried up to the Chief, even if it put a greater height difference between them. The trick to talking to larger mammals was not the height, but the stance. She kept her ears up, back straight and put all the confidence she could muster in her voice. "I heard you talking about the 13 missing guardian spirits. You may have forgotten, but I was top of my class and my best scores were in tracking - "

"I didn't forget. I just don't care," the Chief shot back.

"So you know I could go to the scene and track who has been taking them away."

The Chief huffed. "Fine. We follow your reasoning. You use your delicate rabbit senses and follow the trail to whatever spirit that is capable of taking down tiger and bear guardian spirits. Then what? You'll ask the spirit nicely to stop?"

"I've fought large animals both living and dead during my Academy training. I - "

"Just because you succeeded in Academy doesn't mean you will succeed in the field. In the Academy, if you weren't able to win your fights you could just try again. If you fail on the field, you're dead. House calls won't complete themselves Hopps. I expect you to visit 50 households before noon. Dismissed."

"But Sir- !"

"I said dismissed!' He'd slammed the door of the briefing room as he left.

Which was why Judy found herself in front of a closed door with a list of addresses and the spirits that should be dwelling there in hand. She reached for the doorbell.

Then Judy lowered her hand. She'd successfully tracked down an elusive nine-tailed fox spirit when she was nine. She could sense the spirit she was looking for in the house, and that it was a panda ancestor just chewing on some leaves at the moment. She still had to check the permits were valid and were for the right spirit, but that was grunt work.

"I won't make 50 house calls by noon," she told herself. "I'll make 100."

She rang the doorbell and as soon as it opened she said, "Judy Hopps, Exorcist, how are you, I'm here to check on your permit for your guardian spirit today please present your permit photo side up."

 

By noon Judy had checked off the 100th household on her list. She was browsing lunch options at a grocery store when she saw the flicker of multiple fox tails.

Judy wasn't a curious kit anymore, but she'd revised the books on Zootopia's spirit permit laws when she'd prepped for her house calls today. According to these the older the spirit the smaller the radius it was allowed to roam, and these spirits would be tagged as guardians to a specific house or person. Spirits more than 100 years old were generally encouraged to reincarnate, seeing that reincarnation was the next natural part of the cycle, and that there'd be new spirits to act as guardians for their family. How had this spirit managed to linger in Zootopia for so long without being encouraged to move on? As an exorcist, Judy had to find out.

She went to the place she'd last seen the fox tails, caught the aura imprint and followed the spirit. The fox spirit wasn't moving in any great hurry, and Judy soon found herself staring at its back. Even while keeping a few souls between her and the departed soul she was tracking, she was able to count the number of tails. A simple two, but that was still 50 years, older than the average spirit in Zootopia.

The spirit wasn't alone. He was with another fox a lot smaller in size, probably his kit from the way the smaller fox's hand was curled tightly in the fox spirit's paw and how the smaller fox kept looking around him with wide eyes. This felt like the situation with Gideon Gray all over again, except there were no fair tickets to steal. Was the fox spirit just an ancestor keeping an eye on his grandson? In his formal suit, the fox spirit seemed... almost respectable. The colours were also reversed - the fox spirit was red like Gideon, while the fox kit was cream.

Judy followed the pair all the way to an ice cream shop. Surprisingly, it wasn't the kit who lingered, but the older fox spirit. The kit looked at his ancestor, seemed to come to a decision, and headed into the shop.

Judy ducked inside before the door shut and found herself surrounded by large animals again. It was an ice cream shop mainly for elephants, with quite a few already trunk deep in their ice creams. Elephants too were behind the counter serving ice cream.

The pair was talking to an elephant at the cashier's. "One jumbo pop for my granddad," said the fox kit. There was something strange about his voice - it sounded like it was breaking from the way it wavered between the high voice of a young kit and something deeper. "It's his death anniversary."

When the elephant kept his arms crossed and didn't seem to be reaching for the jumbo pop, the kit continued. "It's a really special occasion. He's grown his second tail!"

As prompted the fox ancestor showed his two fluffy tails. The elephant's gaze flickered to it, proving he could see the spirit. The ancestor, knowing he was looking, gave him a smile and an explanation. "You might not know that foxes only grow in their tails every 50 years. It's a big thing."

"Our food isn't for dead people. Scram."

Judy waited for the fox to ignore the elephant and swipe what he believed to be his.

"Alright. Let's go Junior and not bother these people anymore."

Judy looked at them and remembered how her mother's medium tent was always outside the fair even though the organisers asked her to come back year after year. How the older folk would complain that spirits messed with the crops and still buy Hopps produce. Today was just another example of that nasty business.

Her feet caught up with her thoughts faster than the rest of her did, and she found herself going up to the counter. The fox ancestor stopped short when he spotted her, but she went right past him.

"Excuse me!" she said to the elephant. This was like to Chief Bogo, only this time she made sure her voice carried for other reasons. "You said you don't serve food to dead people?"

"That's what I said. Are those rabbit ears of yours just for show?"

"Do you mind explaining to your customers why that spirit has his trunk in your ice cream right now?"

At least one customer spat out his ice cream. The spirit in question tugged its trunk out of the tub it had been snacking on. It didn't actually need it - it wasn't corporeal enough to even make any ice cream drip on the floor. The elephant sighed. "I've got a permit for my brother."

Judy considered asking for it but that wasn't the point here. "Even if you do, having spirits handle food that is subsequently served to customers is still a Health Code violation. One that might shut down your business." She made sure to smile here, remind people that she was still a friendly bunny and that there was some leeway. "But I'm sure a call to the health inspectors wouldn't be necessary, if you let this nice kit buy his ancestor a - " She turned to the foxes. "What was it again?"

"A jumbo pop," said the ancestor, and his smile at this unexpected kindness made Judy want to see this through.

She turned to the elephant and repeated. "A jumbo pop."

The elephant sighed again but he stated a price. The fox kit was reaching for his pocket when the ancestor asked, "Kit, do you have your wallet?"

The kit's paw came out empty, and he started frantically patting his pockets

"He'd forget his own head if it wasn't attached to him," the spirit sighed. "You know how it is with kits. Don't worry, it's all good." He dropped a kiss on top of his kit's head.

Judy's heart melted. She had the money to spare, and it was easy enough for her to hop up and slap a twenty on the counter. "Keep the change," she said, the exhilaration of doing good enough to make her overlook what the elephant had done.

One jumbo pop later, she and the foxes were walking out of the shop together as the fox spirit gave his effusive thanks. In the midst of it the spirit offered his hand to shake. "I can't thank you enough Exorcist - " He mistook her hesitation in taking his hand. "Oh I should have asked - "

"No, it's fine." Judy made sure to adjust her grip for the handshake as she would for a hug with Great-Uncle Albert. "Judy Hopps."

A thoughtful look crossed the spirit's face, soon replaced by a smile as he introduced himself as, "Nick Wilde." To his kit, he said, "Could you keep carrying that for me? I'm afraid my grip on physical things is still touch and go."

The kit grunted under the weight of the popsicle that dwarved even his ancestor, but he still gamely carried the oversized popsicle as they waved their goodbyes to Judy.

 

Judy might have forgotten all about them. But rabbits didn't forget an aura that they'd sensed before. When she caught their aura again, she hadn't intended to also catch sight of the scheming activities of the fox spirt and his "kit". Once she did however, she followed them through every bit of their popsicle making process until the fox spirit waved the white fennec fox off.

"That was some glamour you did on his voice."

There was no hint of remorse or surprise in the lazy smile Nick Wilde gave Judy as he turned around. "People hear what they want to hear. They expect a sweet young voice to come out of a tiny fox and I give them what they want."

"Do they also want melted down jumbo pops and red wood popsicle sticks?"

"You'll be surprised." Wilde had loosened his tie since the morning and the way he now shoved his paws into his suit pocket made me look like a slouching layabout. "You got what you wanted this morning too." Thinking he got the last word, he floated off.

How dare he - ! Judy hurried after him until she could keep pace. "You tricked me!"

The spirit kept floating down the sidewalk. "It's called a hustle, sweetheart. You wanted to do a good deed and they just so happened to run out of little old ladies crossing the road, so you did a good deed for me and I turned that to my advantage."

"So you could turn right around and trick other people too?"

"Look you come from," he sniffed and she could feel him reading her aura. "A place with bountiful harvests and lots of spirits so I'm going with somewhere in the Triburrows. You hear talk about how Zootopia is where anyone can be anything and everyone truly understands the circle of life. But then you come and find it's every bit as broken as the reincarnation cycle is. You can only be what you already are. Sly fox, dumb bunny. Trickster, stick in the mud." At this point he glanced down and grinned. "Literally, in this case."

Judy was about to ask what he meant when she felt her foot squelch into something. Wilde had led her right into wet cement.

Wilde, still floating in midair, wiggled a clean foot at her and left without a sign as fox spirits always did.

 

Judy knew her current lackluster mood was not suitable for house calls.

She couldn't help it. She kept wondering if her first day was just typical of the way things would be in Zootopia. It didn't help that her work seemed to make the world seem as broken as what the fox spirit had claimed. People made excuses, or lied, or got angry. Judy found she actually preferred those who refused to answer the door.

This reaction was new. As soon as Judy opened the door of the florist shop, the owner grabbed her by the shoulders. "Why are you only here now?"

Startled, Judy fumbled her usual spiel. "I'm here to check on your guardian spirit - "

"We'll deal with that later. The thief that hurt my guardian is getting away!"

Judy glanced at the trail that hadn't even had time to dissipate and realised it belonged to the weasel that had shouldered past her barely a moment ago. She really was the first exorcist on the scene.

"On it sir! I'll get back what he stole!"

The pursuit was still Judy's favourite part of being an exorcist. There was a thrill in catching up to those up to no good. Judy found the thief slinking in what little shadows there were at this time of day, hunched over a bag that had to be the stolen goods.

When the weasel saw Judy's sword slung behind her, he broke into a run. The living usually weren't the ones that ran from exorcists. Judy's curiosity was piqued even more when the weasel ran straight onto a ley line. He intended to boost his spiritual powers to help him escape.

The weasel obviously didn't consider that ley lines helped anyone that used them. As Judy dashed after him, she felt her powers expand to their new range. She had to admit the weasel was good - she had to strain to her new max to make out the weasel zig-zagging in an attempt to boost its obscuring glamour. Unfortunately for the weasel, it would take a fully powered shield to prevent Judy from seeing him.

She kept on the weasel's trail even as she felt other exorcists join her in the chase. Her choice was proven right when the rhino lunged for the weasel, only to find he had grabbed an imprint from five minutes ago.

Judy leapt over the rhino. "I'm on it!" Caught up in the thrill of the pursuit she let out a whoop.

The weasel doubled his speed. Judy thought back to the map of ley lines she had studied at the Academy. This particular line ran along 4th Avenue, which meant it ran through...

The weasel burrowed its way past the tiny entrance of the rodent graveyard.

If this was where the ley went, Judy would follow it through. She dived through the narrow gate, felt the prickle of a threshold and tried to recall if Academy training had mentioned any dangers in bursting into a rodent graveyard uninvited.

Then she was through without a scratch and she could turn her focus back to the weasel.

Muttering in disgust as he tossed off his glamour, the weasel switched to physical distraction. He kicked at a tombstone as he ran, sending a whole wave of them toppling over.

Unclaimed spirits rose from their graves and dashed about shrieking. They weren't old enough to cause any damage, but it made Judy feel as if they were running over her currently non-existent grave every time one of them passed through her feet. She stepped carefully, righting tombstones as she went along.

A sustained scream drew Judy's attention. A fallen angel headstone was leaning against a mausoleum such that the roof was starting to list. Any further and the roof would topple right off.

Dashing forward, Judy caught the root just before its slide exposure its inhabitants to the sun. Good thing she had - the anxious aura she felt told her the mausoleum contained vampires long before she spotted the fangs on the arctic shrew peering up at her through the tiny gap in the roof. Her tomb had been open because she had been getting her nails done.

"Love your hair," Judy couldn't help commenting, because it was really nice and not something all mammals could grow out.

"Thanks!" the shrew chirped back, before the groan of the roof made them both wince. Judy eased the roof back to block the sunlight fully, then had to juggle the angel tombstone so it didn't knock the roof off again. A thought came to mind as she hefted the angel and considered the weasel heading towards the other exit of the cemetery.

If Judy cut off the weasel's escape route by way of an avenging angel tombstone, that was because it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

 

"The last I checked, exorcists dealt with departed mammals, not those still living. A grand case such as the theft of a bag of mouldy onions is for the police. Or are you considering a career change after the house calls?"

"Actually those are bulbs of the _Datura stramonium_ , which is used as painkillers and to relieve asthma. I know this because my father is a healer - "

"Hopps! Did you or did you not chase down a weasel while on duty?"

"To be fair, I was told he'd injured a spirit."

"That meant he was armed and dangerous. That would have been even more reason for you to wait for the proper people to do their job. Instead, you pursued him so closely he ran into a crowd of more spirits he could have harmed. You put both them and yourself at great risk"

Judy bristled and pretended that the faint scars on her cheek didn't hurt on full moon nights. "I could have taken care of it. Sir, I want to do more - "

"I thought I made my opinion on that clear. It's not about how badly you want something, it's about what you're capable of. As exorcists we balance on the line between life and death. If you continue acting as rashly as you have today you could go tripping right over that line and die. This isn't the Academy where you can just try again. There are consequences - "

The office door was abruptly opened. Judy felt the bright warm aura before she saw the tiny otter in the middle of the nimbus, clutching a photo of her family. "Chief Bogo, have you found my Emmett yet?"

Judy half expected the Chief to chew out the otter on the threshold as well, but he as surprisingly gentle when he told her, "Mrs Otterton, didn't I tell you to wait for news?'

"But it's been two weeks! Oh it almost feels like losing him all over again, we were so torn up when he died. He didn't want to move on until the children had grown up. I don't believe he would have just left us like that -"

"I understand, but all our exorcists are very busy."

"Please, there's got to be somebody to find my Emmett!"

The photo decided Judy, and she clambered off the chair to approach Mrs Otterton. "I will find him," she declared.

Mrs Otterton's eyes filled with tears and she gave her profuse thanks as she hugged Judy. Judy hugged her right back, even as it made Chief Bogo growl in frustration. "Oh please take these," Mrs Otterton said, pulling back to hand Judy the photo and a talisman. "This is what my Emmett looks like, and the talisman used to hang around his ashes. Please bring him back to me and my babies."

"Could you wait a moment Mrs Otterton?" Judy had to jump back as Chief Bogo closed the door - while talking to Mrs Otterton on the threshold of the office, she'd put herself in the way of the door's swing. The way Chief Bogo glared at her made Judy think of those at the Academy who had been sore at losing fights to her.

"You're. Fired," he ground out.

"What? Why?"

"Insubordination!" Chief Bogo snapped back, an emphatic hoof tip in Judy's face. "Now, I'm going to open the door and you're going to tell Mrs Otterton that you're unfit even for house calls and you will not be tracking her husband."

Before Judy could retort, Chief Bogo had opened the door. Mrs Otterton had been joined by Assistant Mayor Bellwether on the threshold.

The sheep beamed at the both of them. "I heard Exorcist Hopps will be tracking down Mr Otterton!" Without even acknowledging Chief Bogo's shocked splutters, she continued, "The Mammal Inclusion Initiative is really starting to pay off, Mayor Lionheart is going to be so jazzed!" Bellwether nodded at the lioness ancestor hovering by her shoulder.

"He already knows," said the ancestor.

Bellwether beckoned to Judy, then pumped her hand once Judy was within reach. I'm so glad you're doing this. If you need help, you'll always have a friend at City Hall. Us little folk have to look out for each other.'

"Yes, yes we do," Judy agreed.

"I'll leave you to it then. Mrs Otterton, is there any way I can help too in your moment of need - "

The door swung shut again. Chief Bogo looked like he very much wanted to ram down the door. "So now you've got the Mayor on this too. How will I know you won't over-promise and under-deliver?"

"Sir, I will find Mr Otterton."

"You have 48 hours Hopps. You strike out, you resign."

Judy hadn't come this far to give up. "Deal."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise what happened 50 years ago is worth killing Nick off even before the story started. Please don't be mad at me?
> 
> As mentioned earlier, liberties were taken with the movie references. Please be gentle if I missed a line you like.


	3. Chapter 3

The aura on the talisman led Judy to a familiar corner.

She had followed Nick Wilde's aura before and discovered the Pawpsicle stand. Now she watched them set up - Finnick the fennex fox arranging the pawpsicles, Wilde's aura drawing customers in to buy.

Despite herself she bought a pawpsicle. Wilde tossed off a salute. "Thanks Exorcist Ding-dong." He mimed ringing a doorbell.

"Not my name," Judy said, and took a bite of the pawpsicle to get the nasty taste of the comment out of her mouth. "Hey, these are actually good!"

"We know," Finnick growled, the glamour completely gone from his voice. "You're holding up the queue lady, move it!"

Judy glanced at the queue of lemmings behind her, but held her ground. "This is important sir. I think your ten dollars of pawpsicles can wait." She finished off her pawpsicle and fished out her pen.

"Ha!" Wilde had to pipe up. "He has a fox spirit backing up him and you think he only makes ten dollars a day? He makes 200 bucks a day Fluff! 365 days a year, every year since he was 12." He held up a paw for a good five minutes before Finnick moved to pat his outstretched paw in a reluctant high five. "So what he said. Time is money, hop along."

"Please, I just need you to confirm this," She held up both the talisman and the picture of Mr Otterton. "I believe he bought a pawpsicle from you. D you know him?"

"I know everyone. I also know there's a toy store that's missing its stuffed toy right now, so why don't you just hop back into your box."

Judy was offended. If she were a toy, she would be an action figure, complete with a sword that she drew right now. "Fine, we'll do this the hard way." With a flick of her sword, she activated the circle she had drawn partially before the stall was set up. She now closed it the rest of the way with her sword. The flare of power sent lemmings scurrying away.

Both foxes stared. Wilde recovered first. "Did you just cast a circle around our stall?"

Judy sheathed her sword and declared, "Nicholas Wilde, you are under arrest."

Despite the discomfort of the circle, Wilde still grinned. "For what? Hurting your feelings"

"Enchantment of a minor and extortion."

Finnick leaned against the ice box and gave her an unimpressed look. "The glamour's just a act. I'm a grown mammal and I agreed to the charm."

"That wasn't the case two decades ago. Also, your sign doesn't say if these pawpsicles have been charmed! If I send these for testing and find they've been charmed, Wilde would have extorted... let's see, 200 bucks a day, 365 days a year for two decades, that's times twenty, which is one million, four hundred, sixty thousand I think! I mean, I'm just a dumb bunny but we are good at multiplying."

Despite his wide-eyed panicked look, Wilde made a valiant attempt to regroup. "You can't make that stick, it's your word against mine."

"Actually it's your word against your word! See, not everyone can see spirits, but they make oh so useful witnesses that recording testimonies for spirits is a big thing. Which is why this is admissible in a court of law." Judy played back the recording of Wilde boasting about their earnings, feeling her grin grow wider and wider by the minute. "It's called a hustle, sweetheart."

Amidst the cackling of his business partner, Wilde gave in. "Alright, what do you need to know?"

"First, did you see where he went after buying his pawpsicle?"

Judy's first hint should have been the returning smile that bloomed across Wilde's face. "Oh yes. Yes I did."

 

With a healer father Judy had learnt to view bodies objectively, but she found her limits were being tested in the club they had just walked into.

Wilde was smirking at her fidgeting. "Does this make you uncomfortable?"

"That is not ritual you need to perform skyclad," she grumbled as they passed yet another group of naked animals.

"Not everyone is bursting with talent like you are," Yax the owner explained as he led them across the courtyard. "Once, we were all born with enhanced senses, but the material world got in the way. Getting naked is our way of shedding the material and reducing interference in our interaction with the spirit world. Nagi here is the best at getting others to open their third eye. Nagi! Do you remember Mr Otterton?"

The elephant, who had been intoning a series of breathing exercises, replied in the same monotone, "No I don't remember."

"Little otter spirit, sometimes rattles the curtains so the class can see him better?"

"Doesn't ring a bell."

"Sometimes Nagi doesn't quite function on the level of the material world. She see things on a much higher plane. Like she probably saw Mr Otterton as a little nimbus of white."

Nagi didn't agree with Yax. "Not something I've seen."

"You know, it was really weird the last time Mr Otterton visited. He stepped in the car that had come to pick him up and poof! His aura just vanished! I wish I was spiritually aware enough to cast shields like that."

"Such shields don't sound possible."

Yax was probably the better source of information than Nagi. Judy asked him, "Do you recall anything else about the car and its shields?"

"Yeah! It kept to the ley along the 4th, heading away from the Rodentia graveyard."

"Thank you! Thank you very much!" It was with a spring in her step that she headed back out of the club to the exit that faced the ley on the 4th. Judy was only half-listening as Wilde talked about the clue he'd given her, and then asked for the pen. She ran a hand over the road. Plenty of cars ahd passed here, but only one had a suspicious lack of aura. That meant it had a full on shield instead of just a glamour meant to divert attention. "Yax was right. The shields on that car are extremely strong. The only thing I can tell right now was that the car was here." She could start to scry now, but any materials she had on hand wouldn't be able to pierce the shields and let Judy trace the car of Mr Otterton. Judy thought longingly of the well-stocked ritual rooms in the headquarters, which were only open to exorcists that had been invited past the threshold. She wouldn't be able to get in.

"Carrots, the pen please."

"What did you say just now? Any moron can perform a trace? Gosh I wish there was a moron to perform the trace for me."

"Rabbit I already did what you asked! You can't keep holding this over me forever."

"Not forever. I only have another 36 hours to solve this case. So can you perform the trace or not?"

"Tracking is not my skill set," said the fox spirit, before his grin slid back on his face. "But I do have a friend that can get you set up with anything you need. You want something, he's got it."

 

"Flash flash hundred yard dash!"

Why a sloth would have the name Flash was beyond Judy. Sloths specialised in the ability to slow time. While that resulted in impressive displays such as the 1000 year old flower still held at the point of full bloom in the shop front, she didn't see how that would help with her scrying where she needed the results yesterday.

Flash looked up at the greeting. "Nick. Good to. See you. Too."

It was Judy's turn to smirk at Wilde. Did he think he could kid her into believing this sloth was fast?

Wilde's smile never wavered, even as Flash reached under the table and put a series of charms in front of Wilde. He picked them up, did a fancy juggle before sending each of the charms thudding back into the tray.

"That makes a hundred," he told Flash, who was covering the charms with a cloth that set the magic. Despite herself Judy had to admit she was a little impressed. Charm bags with ingredients maintained at the freshness when first collected, and fox touched on top of that. That would make the usual disclaimer on charmed objects an advertisement in itself.

"Usual payment. Same time," Flash agreed. Business done, Flash turned to Judy. "Hello. What can I. Do?"

"Hi! Judy Hopps, ZED. I was hoping you could - "

"For you."

"Yes I was hoping - "

"Today?"

Surely the sentence had to be finished by now. "I was hoping you could show us what materials you have for scrying. We are in a really big hurry and we need something powerful that can give us results fast."

"Sure. What do. You prefer?"

"I was thinking - "

"To use?"

Judy did not whimper, but it took considerable effort. "- you could just show us?"

"We have. Mirrors."

"I won't know until - "

"Glass."

"I need to - "

"Stones. Crystals."

"Crystals!"

"We have. Bias cut. And - "

"Crystal balls!" said Judy before Flash could go into the variants of crystals and their cuts "Just put all the crystal balls you have here. Please?"

"That's traditional," remarked Wilde.

Judy was not going to give Wilde the satisfaction of knowing her Mom did own a crystal ball. Instead, she checked her own things were in order - her mirror, Mr Otterton's talisman, some gravel from 4th Avenue that had been touched by both the ley an the car. None of them were resonating with the crystal balls Flash had placed on the table. Judy tried not to tap her feet as Flash went to retrieve another crystal ball.

"Hey Flash, want to hear a joke?"

"No!"

"Sure," said Flash, and Judy let her head fall onto the counter.

 

She was the opposite end from calm but if she didn't settle down for the trace she would waste even more time than she already had between Flash's speed and Wilde's jokes.

"Chop chop, time's a-wasting," said Wilde as Judy set up the room Flash had kindly lent them.

"I know!" Judy blurted. The force of her retort almost snuffed out the candle she had been lighting. She tried to recall how she had found her calm even with 10 younger sibling demanding her attention, and remembered how she would focus on the goal. Nothing else mattered.

Yes, finding Mr Otterton was the most important thing here. Finding that spot of calm within her, she took a seat, centered herself and set about locating North. Huh, the table had already been orientated right, and she had had to place her items on the table. She put the crystal ball right in the centre, then her mirror on the farthest end of the table facing North. Mr Otterton's talisman went to the right for East, and the gravel from the car on the left.

"You must really want to find him. You've got both a mirror and a crystal ball." Wilde floated over to get a better look at the set up for the trace. "What's your fourth?'

"Myself. Could you just stay right there?"

"Maybe not so traditional after all." True to his nature, he promptly sidled away. "Did you forget I'm not the one looking for Mr Otterton? I'm not taking your place in the scrying. Do your own trace."

"No, I'm not asking your to direct the scrying. It's just that..." Judy toyed with a few excuses, then settled for the truth. "Your aura smooths things. Stay there."

"I'm not one of your ZED pet ghosties," Wilde sing-songed. "You can't just order me around."

"Could you please stay there?"

Judy braced herself for a retort, but Wilde instead took up the place she'd indicated and waited. It seemed that he was just intent on continuing to surprise her. Before he could change his mind again, she focused on the scrying that would let her trace Mr Otterton.

Those unfamiliar with scrying might think that Judy would see everything that was going on with Mr Otterton as if she were watching it from a TV screen. True practitioners knew that wasn't the case. What Judy saw was a white nimbus she'd come to associate with the Ottertons, the edges of the aura blurred with the rush of speed. She could tell the nimbus itself wasn't the source of the motion, which hinted that it was in a car. Below the nimbus, the ley line glowed yellow.

Then the aura was shot through with green, which slowly turned to black as the spirit grew more and more agitated. Blood suddenly splashed across the ley line, turning it briefly red before the ley disappeared from the scrying surface altogether. The nimbus that had been Mr Otterton too was now no longer within her sight. Instead, the car that had been so thoroughly shielded earlier appeared now as a wheel of chrome, slowly spinning. She extended her senses to get more of an impression of her surroundings, and felt winter, metal, a direction!

She pulled out of the trace and re-centered herself in her own body. She had exerted herself more than expected, for her breathing was coming fast and shallow. She waited for her breaths to even before standing.

She was surprised to find Wilde had stayed exactly in place while she was scrying, though he was looking back at her with just as much surprise. "You've got something on your cheek," he said.

"What?" Judy scrubbed at her cheek and found her paw came away clean. "What's on my cheek?"

"Nothing." His quizzical expression had been wiped and he'd gone to the other extreme of disinterest. "Did you get what you wanted?'

"Yes!" Judy swept everything but the crystal ball into one of the pouches on her belt, and bounded to the door Flash had told them led out to the street. "We've got to get to Tundratown and find that car! If we find something there we can refocus the trace - " She stared in disbelief out of the door. "It's night?"

"Oh did I forgot to mention the sloth mold?" Wilde feinted wide eyed innocence as he tapped the door edge, which was indeed lined with green. "Don't you just find sloths and their stasis spells amazing?"

 

The car was locked behind a very sturdy gate by the time Judy and Wilde got there.

"Too bad about that trace."

Wilde's smarmy remark had Judy rounding on him. "You wasted the day on purpose! Does seeing me fail make you feel better about your sad miserable existence?"

"It does, 100%. Since there's nothing for you to use in your trace, I guess we're done?"

Judy kept her expression as straight as she could. "Fine." As Wilde reached for the pen she tossed it over the fence.

One of Wilde's ears twitched. "First you throw like a bunny. Second, you're a very sore loser." Grin back in place, he let himself begin to drift through the fence. "I just wish I could help, but coincidentally you forgot I can just turn intangible and step through the fence -"

"Oh, there isn't a threshold!" Judy pretended to gasp, then made short work of the chain with her sword. Before Wilde could turn tangible again she scooped up the pen. "The thing is, exorcists go where spirits go, and I'm pretty sure I saw a shift no-gooder sidling through the fence. So you're helping plenty!"

She turned on her heel, intent on not wasting any more time on Wilde. The car she had detected during her trace was a white limousine that betrayed no signs of the heavy shielding it had been under two weeks ago. She ran her hand over the doors, trying to pick up any trace of Mr Otterton.

Wilde, now corporeal again, just tugged the door open. Judy tested the blast of frigid air that burst out of the car for aura, and hopped in when she felt nothing. Scoured the floor for anything she could use in her trace. Polar bear fur, jaguar fur - 

"Oh my god!"

Judy shot upright, hand on her sword hilt. "What?"

"The velvety pipes of Jerry Vole!" Wilde waved two CDs at her. Judy glanced at them and decided even if Mr Otterton had touched those, she didn't wnt anything that had Wilde's aura contaminating it. She went back to looking over the car seats for anything she could use.

She almost wanted to ignore Wilde when she heard him speak again, but he was using a serious tone she'd not heard him use before. "Hopps, if your otter guardian was here, he had a very bad day."

She felt the aura left behind long before she saw the clawed up back of the limousine. The aura left behind was oozing black like what she had seen when scrying. If she wanted to find Mr Otterton as he was now, this would be the best sample she could get.

Anguish and pain hit her like they were her own feelings as soon as she slid through the privacy screen. She tried not to heave as she put up shields and re-centered herself.

"Rabbit?"

"One moment." Academy had taught Judy how to work through pain. Learning how to manage her powers from her Mom had taught her how to acknowledge feelings that weren't her own. Between the two, she was able to keep moving as she looked for something that would symbolise Mr Otterton in his new state, whatever it was.

Wilde bumped into her while picking up a glass. "Oops."

Juy cast him a sidelong look as she tried to figure out what his motive was. He couldn't be sticking close to her because his aura gave her some reprieve from the immediacy of Mr Otterton's aura. No, he had to be trying to prevent her from finding something she could use for her trace. After the trick he'd pulled with the sloths how could it be anything else?

That was why when Wilde suddenly blurted out, "We gotta go!" her first instinct was to dig her heels in.

"I haven't found anything for my trace!"

Wilde actually started to guide her away. "Trust me you don't want to trace anything that might lead you anywhere near Mr Big. He's the most terrifying mammal among the living and dead!"

"So we're just giving up on Mr Otterton?"

"We can search for Mr Otterton somewhere where Mr Big can't find me, or this place will be where I died a second time - "

Judy did not start like Wilde did when they found polar bears on the other side of the car door, but she had the benefit of facing the door when it opened. As Wilde attempted to talk himself out of the situation, she found herself staring at the rope the polar bears had coiled at their waist. It had been woven with materials like the pouches on her belt, and would let them bind any spirit caught in its loops.

Unfortunately it was just as effective on the living, as Judy discovered when they were roped into seeing Mr Big.


	4. Chapter 4

The polar bear medium that came out to see them had the most blinding, bright, blue aura that Judy had ever seen. "Mr Big?" she guessed. She was more impressed than terrified, but Wilde had shrunk back.

"Stop talking stop talking," Wilde muttered. He'd recovered enough during the ride to explain about the skunk butt rug, but now he seemed more terrified than they had been when they were first caught.

Judy realised why when the polar bear medium opened his paws and she felt the aura of the vampire contained within.

This vampire bore its age like a badge of valour. He was even older than Great times infinity Grandma, and to have lived that long this shrew must have drained the souls from many mammals. Judging from the way he was eyeing Wilde, it seemed he didn't care whether the soul was living or already departed.

Judy glanced at the medium who was slightly less intimidating. She now knew who was the source of the shields if he was able to shield such a strong aura from those in its immediate presence. The polar bear medium gave her a smile that showed all his teeth. He'd probably sensed her trace too. Judy gulped and turned her attention back to the vampire.

"You come here, unannounced, on the day my daughter is to be married," said Mr Big. "I trusted you Nicky. You were one of the family. Grandmama even made her cannoli for you. And how did you repay my generosity? With a rug. Made from the butt of a skunk. A skunk butt rug. Grandmama used it as a shroud that night. What have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully?"

Wilde was at a loss for words for once.

"And who is she?"

"She's nobody - "

Judy was tired of others saying that about her. "Judy Hopps, exorcist. I'm here to find out more about Mr Otterton and I expect answers."

Despite the way panic shot through Wilde's aura behind her, Judy held her ground. They already knew she was performing the trace. Better to keep things honest and see if that got her anywhere.

"I'm not particularly hungry right now," said Mr Big. While Judy tried to figure out whether that meant he was open to negotiation or something else, Mr Big said, "I'll save them for later. Ice them!"

Judy threw up a shield immediately, even as she doubted its effectiveness against any attack backed by the cool blue of the polar bear's aura. It proved to be even less effective when the thugs simply yanked them off their feet and started dragging them away.

"Daddy! It's time for our dance - " The new comer took one look at Judy and Wilde. "What did I say? No eating or icing anyone at my wedding!"

"Daddy has to baby, daddy has to." As Mr Big soothed his daughter, Judy finally realised what was so familiar about her aura, just as the shrew came to the same realisation.

"Daddy, that's the bunny exorcist that saved the family earlier! She made sure the mausoleum didn't fall down."

"I'm just glad you're safe," said Judy, because if she was going to end up as vampire food, she might as well go out with good thoughts in her head. "Congrats on your big day. Love the dress.'

"Thanks," the shrew cooed, as if she received compliments from captive rabbits every day. "But I can't be having this treatment for my saviour. Put them down!"

And that was how Judy found herself sitting at the same table as a vampire, a medium and a spirit. She was quite sure Dad didn't have any jokes that included an exorcist in the mix, but this was probably on the list of things that would give her parents a heart attack rather than make them laugh.

Mr Big however, was more than willing to answer Judy's questions now that she was friend instead of foe.

"The Ottertons have been working as my apothecary since I came to Zootopia. Sad situation with Em. I got the guy who did it but only after the fact. So when Em says he had something to tell me I send the car over and make time to talk to him. He never made it here."

"I've not been able to locate him too," the polar bear Judy now knew as Kozlov said.

"But your shields are amazing!" Judy couldn't imagine what could get past this medium.

"Power doesn't mean anything if the other has had time to set up."

Mr Big swirled the wine in his glass. "I still think a strong enough connection could trace him through the shields. But the murderer that offed Em is wiped from existence."

Judy thought back to the blood she had seen while scrying. "What about Mr Otterton? Did he hurt anyone? That connection might let us see past the shields too."

The stare she received for an answer reminded Judy that Mr Big could still eat her if he wanted. Tracing someone that didn't want to be found could be considered disrespectful. She kept her back straight. She had been looking behind Mr Big's shields for official business after all.

"Manchas is who you should look for. Perhaps if you use him in the trace you'll be able to find Emmett Otterton."

 

Judy didn't realise she could miss Wilde's smart-aleck remarks until the quiet drive to Mr Manchas' place in a car borrowed from Mr Big.

"So Rainforest district huh?" Judy forced cheer into her voice. "I hope the sprinklers aren't on at this time of day. That'll put a damper on our investigation."

Wilde's ear flicked. "Rabbit? Don't quit your day job."

"Well now I won't have to! With Mr Big's help, we should be able to find Mr Otterton today."

Wilde kept staring outside. From the way he was leaning on the window which hadn't been spirit proofed, Judy guessed he was corporeal and nudged him with an elbow.

"Ow," he said in an unconvincing tone. "What gives? I thought you'd like the peace and quiet."

"Quiet? Yes. Peace? Not so much." She glanced at his aura just to be sure, then told him, "You're broadcasting. You seem upset."

Wilde's eyes were fixed on the rainforest canopy coming into view. "You know, I thought if I ever saw Mr Big again that would be the end of me."

It was Judy's turn to keep quiet, just in case Wilde changed his mind about speaking.

"I've been around for 50 years now, and got used to the way things were. It could have ended just like that for the both of us. I died once. I don't recommend it."

Judy had been living long enough with death and what happened after that she'd made her peace with it. She'd forgotten not everyone had. "We got out of that one. You'll be fine."

"I'll be fine," Wilde had turned to Judy and Judy was completely not jealous he'd been able to master the single raised eyebrow. She was one of the rare Hopps who couldn't. "Says the person attempting to trace someone that managed to thwart even Mr Big."

"This might get bigger," Judy admitted. "But after today you'll be able to go back to selling your pawpsicles for another 50 years more. Don't worry about it."

"Yes." A mix of relief and exasperation burst across Wilde's aura before it smoothed and went back to its usual green. "Yes that was exactly what I was worried about. You know it's been more than 12 hours since I was last with Finnick? I bet with his temper he's only sold one pawpsicle in all that time - "

Despite the reference to shenanigans she really shouldn't encourage, Judy started laughing. The rest of the drive to Mr Manchas' place was not as quiet.

 

Mr Manchas' apartment was high in the trees, and it was his guardian who spoke to them at the door. "He's resting. What does Mr Big want?'

"We need his help to find Mr Otterton - "

"Find him?" The living jaguar joined the spirit at the door. "Why would you want to find him when he did _this_ to me?" Even the harsh artificial lights couldn't hide the festering black aura in the claw marks across Mr Manchas' face.

Judy had gotten an impression of the attack during her scrying, but she hadn't picked up all the details. "What happened?"

"I can't see spirits that well, only hear them," Mr Manchas admitted. "I heard him howling over and over again about the Nighthowlers, but when I turned to ask him if he was alright he attacked! There's no way I'm letting him anywhere near me!"

At the word Nighthowlers, Wilde turned to Judy who shrugged. That wasn't anything she'd heard from her family or the Academy.

"Well why don't you share with us what you know about Nighthowlers, and we can share with you what we know about Nighthowlers. Then you can decide whether you'll let us conduct the trace."

Maybe it was good to have a fox spirit on your side, thought Judy, as Wilde's suggestion seemed to convince Mr Manchas. "Celia, do you want to let them in?'

"Alright, but the wards will take some time to undo."

Wilde and Judy stepped back to let the guardian do her work, but after five minutes the wards were still up. "Mr Manchas? Ms Manchas?" Judy pushed on the half-opened door.

Only quick reflexes saved her from being bowled over by a pouncing spirit, but that wasn't the end of the attack. Celia Manchas, aura boiling black, snarled at them and pounced again.

Judy ran, Wilde close behind her. Since he was floating, the bridge was less a problem form him than it was for Judy, who was jostled with each leap of the jaguar behind them. She attempted to hold on to the supporting ropes, and when that failed timed the leaps.

When the jaguar spirit next landed, Judy used the bridge as a springboard to leap forward. She hit the wooden platform at the other end, rolled and got back on her feet.

"Carrots?" Wilde whispered, having kept by her side all the way. "Hate to say this, but it's a dead end."

Judy glanced over her shoulder and discovered they'd landed on a boarding platform for a cable car that had yet to come. "You get help. I'll deal with this."

"And leave you to that?"

That was the jaguar spirit, a black roiling thing at the end of the bridge.

Judy drew her sword. She knew exactly why the sword would glow now, and it was with some reluctance that she channeled her aura into a potential killing strike. "Celia Manchas! I don't want to hurt you. Stand down."

The jaguar spirit snarled, pacing as it considered its options. Judy started preparing a spell to deal with the next attack.

She didn't realise that between an armed exorcist and an unarmed spirit, a dark spirit would go for the latter.

Wilde threw himself backward as the jaguar leapt at him. Floating away would do him no use here - the jaguar spirit too didn't need solid ground to chase him down. Judy snapped off a binding spell, but the jaguar spirit's powers let it dodge.

Time for Plan B. She ran towards them, banking on the spirit's ability to dodge as she brought her sword down. The jaguar slipped away as planned, and Judy snapped the shield spell shut around herself and Wilde's sprawled form. She still wasn't quick enough - the jaguar managed to get a paw in, swiping at them before Judy's energy forced it to withdraw. It paced at a distance as it observed the shield.

"Are you OK?" Wilde's aura looked fine to Judy, but she had to be sure.

Wilde sat up. "Scared out of my wits for the third time this evening, I don't think my wits will ever recover."

Humour was good, humour meant Wilde was OK. Judy launched into her explanation. "Listen. A jaguar spirit specialises in visualisation or endurance. She has skills in the former because she was able to dodge my attacks. We don't have time to find out if she has endurance too."

"OK, what's with spirit power 101?"

"I need you to distract her so I can do what I need to do."

There was a long agonising moment when Judy was afraid he would say no. His eyes, as green as his aura, were wide with fear.

"Or you could take my sword - "

"Wouldn't know the first thing to do with it." He got to his feet, planting them on the ground. "Carrots, if you see me disappear I'm not really gone."

"I wish you could make me disappear too." Judy dropped into a crouch. "You ready?"

"No, probably never, but let's do this."

Judy dropped her shields.

They'd barely lowered an inch before the jaguar was pouncing again. Wilde flickered out of sight, then reappeared closer to the bridge. "Hey Inkstain!"

The jaguar turned to attack Wilde, and Judy's brief moment of panic was the trigger to fire off the binding spell. Despite it being a split second decision, the jaguar almost twisted out of the way only to have one paw caught. Judy quickly tethered the other end of the spell to the nearby railing.

Judy might have let out a victory whoop if the jaguar hadn't used a free paw to swipe at Wilde.

He wasn't concentrating, so he was hit right into Judy's body. For a brief moment, they were two consciousness in one body.

Then Wilde moved clear, and Judy lost her balance.

Falling off the platform wasn't in Judy's plan, but neither was the random vine she was able to catch during her fall. That was probably mostly Wilde - he was by her shoulder, incorporeal and floating.

"Whatever you do, don't let go!" he told her.

"Are you feeling lucky?"

"Am I - what does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm letting go."

"Rabbit!"

She let her, and her leap of faith landed her right in a next of vines. She felt laughter bubble up at the lucky catch.

"Yes, you're very lucky you were able to tap on my powers." Nick floated over with his hands behind his back and a disapproving expression. The suit complemented the mock severe look. "You might be alive, but I have no idea how you're going to get down."

Judy glanced down. She wasn't afraid of heights, but the ground was indeed far away. "A little help?"

Nick gave the most put-upon of put-upon sighs, made even more fake by how put-upon it was. "It just so happens that I'm a master problem solver." He turned corporeal to tug at a vine. "Comes with the whole fox skill set - "

Judy felt the shift in weight before Nick did. "Watch out!"

The nest of vines fell apart. As she fell, Judy braced herself for the impact, wondered if throwing up a shield would be any use for her physical body - 

The vines coiled around her and stopped her fall at almost the last minute. Nick, intangible to almost the point of invisibility, drifted down next to her as if he'd forgotten how exactly to float.

" - I meant for that to happen," he claimed. Then he cocked his head, listening to something Judy couldn't hear "Your people are coming."

Chief Bogo, with more exorcists in tow, came into view. "Step away from her!" Bogo hollered.

Judy twisted to see if the jaguar spirit had broken its binding, then realised it was Nick who was stepping away from the exorcists, hands raised so they could see if he made a move.

"H - he's with me!" Judy spluttered, not believing what she was seeing.

Chief Bogo crossed his arms. "Well this should be good."

 

"Guardians aren't just going missing sir," said Judy as they headed back to the jaguar spirit. "I believe Mr Otterton and this jaguar - they've gone dark."

"Dark? Dark is what happens to the spirits of murderers, thieves or those who perform violent acts. Spirits don't just go dark."

"That's what I thought, until I saw this - "

The platform was empty. The jaguar spirit, even Judy's binding spell, was all gone.

"Or may be any aggressive spirit seems dark to a sensitive rabbit due to the bleed over of emotions."

Judy should not prove his point by becoming emotional now, but it was hard when she scanned the area and found no trace that even she herself had been there. "Sir, I know what I saw, she almost killed us here."

"Fall in Hopps. We've leaving."

"Wait, sir, I'm not the only one who was attacked." She didn't see Nick at first, but remembering what he had said earlier about still being around even when it seemed he had disappeared, she tried, "Nick?"

He faded into view again, and stepped forward so the Chief could see him.

"You think I'm going to believe a fox spirit?" Chief Bogo's voice had gone soft and incredulous.

"Well he saw what happened - "

"Did he? Or was it just part of an elaborate trick by a many tailed fox?"

"Sir - !"

"Two days to find the otter guardian!" Bogo bellowed before Judy could finish her protest. When he was satisfied she wasn't going to retort, he continued, "That was the deal. Not dragging yourself and your fellow exorcists on wild goose chases. Now, sword."

Judy couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Sir?"

"Sword!"

Judy could protest now, but Bogo was right. She'd made a deal, and if she wanted her words to have power she had to honour it. She took hold of her sword strap -

"No."

"What did you say fox?"

"What I said was no, she will not be giving you her sword."

Nick was properly corporeal now, and he made no attempt to hide his aura, green and powerful. Yet it didn't hurt even when he brought her will within its range by standing next to her. "Look you sent her off with a glowing metal stick and her wits to track in two days an otter spirit you hadn't found in two weeks? Yeah. No wonder she needed help from a fox spirit. A many tailed fox spirit." He brandished his tails almost like a sword. "None of you were going to help her, were you?" He stabbed a finger at Chief Bogo to drive the point home. "Here's the thing chief. You gave her 48 hours so we technically have - " He counted quickly on his fingers. "10 hours to find our Mr Otterton. On your word. So! If you'll excuse us we have an otter spirit to follow." He bowed so elaborately that the gesture was a mock in itself. "Good day."

There was nothing Judy could add to the power of Nick's words, and so she followed his lead and headed towards the end of the platform. She wasn't sure if the cable car had been waiting all along, or if Nick had somehow arranged for the convenience. Either way, he invited her to get on. "Exorcist Hopps."

The cable car was solid under her feet so it was definitely not a trick. How quickly they left after Nick joined her was still a little suspicious.

Even if he was using his powers though, he'd helped her. He'd been helping her all long during the fight with the jaguar spirit. And even if it had been in a very roundabout, fox like way, he had even been helping her right from the start. The only right thing to do now was for Judy to say, "Thank you."

On his side of the cable car, Nick was also looking out over the trees. "Never let them get to you. That's what I've been telling myself since I was 8. Bad things happen if you do."

If it had been important enough to Nick that he'd held on to it years after he was 8, Judy wanted to know. Perhaps then she would understand why he helped her. "What happened when you were 8?"

It was Nick's turn to fall silent. Of course he wouldn't want to tell her. It was too personal. Judy didn't think even a joke about sprinklers would help now.

"This was when I was still alive, when collars were still a thing. I was 8, maybe 9, and all I wanted to do was open a tailor shop with my father."

Judy wondered if Nick's father was slim like him, or with broader shoulders like the Grays. She decided on the former when Nick said, "He was the kindest, gentlest person I knew. He'd take long walks with me and show me every bit of the city he loved. We saw the empty shop on one of these walks. It was just a tiny corner shop, might have had space for a sewing machine and a single rack at most, but when he wrote our surname in the dust on the door I - I could see that dream too."

"So my father scraped together a business plan and took me to the bank to get some money because by God we were going to get that tailor shop. We made our pitch, even had a model with little winking lights I would switch on - and every single banker would look at my father's collar as they put a big fat red rejected stamp on our loan."

His hand had crept to his bare neck, fingering a collar that was no longer there. Judy wondered if they'd taken it off Nick when he died, or if his body lay somewhere still collared. That thought had never occurred to her when she was reading about shock collars in a textbook. The idea had been too remote, too far in the past for Judy to understand.

"I was too young to understand about collars then. I thought maybe if they didn't stamp our application we'd have the money. So the next bank we went to, I grabbed the stamp and held on - with the lemming bankers on the other end still clinging on for dear life. I might have let go of the stamp eventually, but they never gave me a chance. They called me a thief, and set the guard on me. I was yanked off my feet by a big burly rhino guard." He gestured, just so Judy couldn't mistake the size of the guard.

"I panicked. My father panicked. He jumped onto the rhino and yanked me free, even though it set his collar right off. I begged them to make the shocks stop. I'll never forget what hey said next."

"They said if he was teaching his kid to steal from such a young age, he deserved it. And that you couldn't expect anything else from foxes. I learned two things that day. If you let them get to you, you'll do things you'll regret."

He lost himself in his regrets for a while, his story coming to a halt as he mulled his past. Judy decided to disperse his dark thoughts by asking, "And two?"

"If the world is only going to see a fox as shifty and untrustworthy, there's no point in trying to be anything else. Doubly so when you're dead."

Judy reached out to rest a paw on Nick's arm, keeping just enough pressure so he could feel it without her sliding through. "You're so much more than that."

The proximity seemed to make him uncomfortable. He pulled away and shifted his focus to the roads stretched below them. "That's a lot of traffic. Jack! How are things looking on the jam cams?"

Perhaps humour was not always a sign Nick was OK. "I'm glad you told me. Seriously, it's OK - "

Nick shushed her and even grabbed her shoulders. "No no. You and I both saw whoever got to the jaguar spirit scrubbed every single spiritual trace. But I'm sure that person hasn't had time to get to every single traffic camera all over the Canopy. And since recording of spirits are now permissible in court - "

"Every single traffic camera has now been upgraded to be capable of recording spirits!"

"Bingo! Whatever happened to that jaguar spirit on the cable car platform, the traffic cams would have caught it!"

"Ah ha! Pretty sneaky Slick."

"However, if you didn't have any help from your exorcists before I don't think Chief Buffalo Butt will be willing to help you talk to the police now."

"No." Judy looked at the rising sun and the light reflecting off the glass of the skyscrapers, the metal of cars, and the long radio antenna of City Hall. "But I have a friend at City Hall who might."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After seeing [Nick's father in the Zootopia documentary](https://youtu.be/Hiu3qJi0aPY?t=2041), I knew I had to write him into the fic. (If you haven't seen the documentary before, it's really worth a watch!) Sorry Boy Scouts, maybe another time.


	5. Chapter 5

When Judy caught up with Assistant Mayor Bellwether she was trying to get into Mayor Lionheart's office. Bellwether was telling one of the ancestors at the door, "I need the Mayor to review these very important documents - "

"Didn't he tell you to clear his afternoon?" the lioness spirit snapped back, her tail swishing in agitation.

"But he has this meeting with Herds and Grazing and there are these files - "

"He told you to clear his afternoon!" A conveniently placed tail swish sent files clattered to the floor. In the commotion, the spirit took the chance to disappear back through the door.

"Oh mutton chops," Bellwether muttered as she tried to pick up the files. Judy could understand. It seemed that Mayor Lionheart and Chief Bogo were rather alike in personality.

Judy got Bellwether's attention by handing her a file. "Assistant Mayor Bellwether? We need your help."

Bellwether glanced at Nick behind Judy. "It seems spirit guardians are popular nowadays."

"Oh he's not with the ZED. Actually our request today has nothing to do with the ZED. We need access to the traffic cameras, and it'll take too long to go to the police."

"I can definitely help with that. I'm so glad you remembered us little folk need to stick together. Let's take all this down to my office."

Files gathered, Judy expected to be ushered into a nearby office. But Bellwether led them down stairs, and more stairs, and finally to a corridor with many doors. Bellwether pushed open the nearest one and started tossing files into drawers. "Alright, you can come in now Judy."

When Nick tried to follow, he flinched back. "Ow. Threshold."

Bellwether shut a drawer. "Oh I'm sorry I can't just invite spirits in too. These wards take some time to undo."

"These?" Judy glanced at the door frame. "I thought you just had to touch these with your aura - " Then Judy remembered how her own mom got when Judy pointed these things out. "Oh sorry. You should know better."

"It's alright. It's been a while since I set these up. I might be making it sound more difficult than it actually is." Bellwether took out her bell and rang it, which made her aura creep away from the door and leave it clear.

"That was tingly," Nick commented as he stepped into the office.

Judy really wanted to tell him to cut it out in front of the Assistant Mayor, but that was also on the list of things not to say in front of the Assistant Mayor. "Let's help Assistant Mayor Bellwether with the files, shall we?" said Judy, making sure to emphasise Bellwether's title. She dumped part of her stack on Nick.

"That'll be really nice of you," said Bellwether as Judy put some files into the drawers. "I'll go set up the computer."

By the time Judy and Nick had squared the files away, Bellwether had called up a few programs. "Traffic cameras was it?" Bellwether asked.

"Yes." Judy came to stand by Bellwether's shoulder, with Nick on the other side. Judy assumed he had stopped using his powers to stay corporeal, but when she looked she found him touching Bellwether's wool. "Hey!" she hissed. "You can't do that!"

"Sheep never let me get this close."

She really couldn't take Nick anywhere with polite company. She'd barely managed to bat his hands away when Bellwether looked up and asked, "Where to?"

"Rainforest district," Judy replied, then glared at Nick as Bellwether looked back to her screen.

"There! Traffic cameras for the whole city. Oh this is so exciting actually, I never get to do anything this important."

"But you're the Assistant Mayor."

"Oh I'm more of a glorified secretary. I think Mayor Lionheart just wanted the sheep vote - "

"Smellwether!" Lionheart's voice came in over the intercom.

"Ack, that's a fun little name he likes to use." Bellwether was smiling, but Judy felt her own was coming out forced. "I called him Lionfart once, he did not care for that - "

"Are you hiding behind your wards again?" Lionheart demanded.

Bellwether pressed the comm, "Yes s- I mean no sir, I'm not hiding behind my wards."

"Good, then you can follow my ancestor to see about cancelling my afternoon."

"Oh dear, I better go. I hope you find - "

A lion ancestor chose to open the door just then. "Hurry up, Leodore's waiting!'

As the door clicked shut behind the two, Nick wondered, "When she tries to go to sleep, does she count herself?"

"Oh shush." Judy took Bellwether's seat and started clicking through the traffic cameras. "There we go!"

The cameras, even enhanced, had recorded Celia Manchas as just a silhouette of a jaguar without any details of her aura. Even so, Judy felt a shiver go down her spine at the memory of the black aura she'd felt then. Judy's binding spell did not turn up on the screen, but the way the jaguar spirit was moving it was clear she was restrained by something.

That was why when the wolves appeared, she was unable to avoid the net they threw at her. It must have been made of the same type of rope that Mr Big had used to catch Nick and Judy earlier, because they were able to pin Ms Manchas down. One of the wolves made a gesture, likely to undo Judy's binding spell, and then they bundled the spirit in the net into the back of a van.

"These have to be the Nighthowlers," Judy guessed.

It was a good thing that Nick had suggested the cameras. Judy didn't think her scrying would have let her see the details of the van heading onto the ley on Highway 90. The van followed the ley for a while, then disappeared.

"What? Where did they go?" Judy flicked between cameras on the 90, but saw nothing.

"That's where the leys of 90 and 21st Street meet. Try the cameras on Cliffside."

Judy toggled the cameras and found the wan again. "Protecting and now teaching me? You know, I think you'll make a pretty good guardian."

"How dare you," Nick said in mock anger.

"Without you I wouldn't have figured out Nighthowlers were wolves, or where they took Ms Manchas."

"You don't need smarts to be a pet ghostie. And you need to make doubly sure the spirits are here before bringing in the Big B." Nick tapped the screen where the wolves were driving into a huge gray building. "Time to head all the way to Cliffside."

 

The angle of the traffic cameras didn't show that the building at Cliffside had been built over a waterfall.

"That's why the spirits haven't escaped," Judy mused as she checked the spiritual energies of the building. "The running water dampens their powers." She glanced at Nick, who ears were already flattened back even at this distance. "You don't have to go in. With the ley, I think I'll be fine."

"I'm not sure I'll be any safer out here than in there Carrots. Let's get this over with."

He really didn't have to come. Judy felt the boost to her powers as she drew closer to the building. She was strong enough to do this alone. That was why Judy didn't comment on how close Nick stuck to her as they crept up to the guardhouse. This was where the first set of wards started, though thankfully there were no thresholds at any point. Breaking a threshold would be more complicated than undoing the wards. The wards would be no cakewalk either - Judy had to tug the protective energy apart without attracting the attention of the wolf in the guardhouse just inches away.

The more immediate problem seemed to be that the wolf had somehow sensed them. Even with the shield Judy had put up, the wolf kept sniffing the air. Every time the wolf's snout turned their way, Judy's heart skipped a beat.

Nick made some complicated gestures, and then attempted to run off. Judy managed to gesture for him to stay. It had been a while since she'd attempted to modify her voice with glamours to impress her siblings. She was satisfied when she tried on the glamour and her voice came out as a perfect wolf's howl.

Triggered by the howl, all the wolves started howling. Since there was no need for secrecy now, Judy slashed through the wards with her sword as she went along, making it all the way to the side of the building.

"Clever bunny," Nick remarked. His grin was infectious and Judy found herself smiling back.

The moment didn't last long. Even with the wards down, the best way into the building was over water. "Can you handle that?" she asked, pointing up to the waterspout that was the best way to enter the building."

"You'll probably need to carry me. Do you have a bag on you?"

The bags on Judy's belt that carried her exorcist tools were just as useful for carrying spirits. Judy juggled bells and mirrors and small stones around until she'd emptied out a bag. "Does this work?"

"A tight fit, but it'll do." Nick disappeared, and a moment later the bag she was holding open pulled itself shut.

Judy secured the bag to her belt, and started to climb.

 

When Judy let Nick out of the bag in the building itself, he shook himself off and looked around. "You bring me to nicest places," he drawled.

"That's rich. _You_ brought me to a naturalist club," she shot back. She opted for the non-magical means of lighting the place with the light from her phone. Metal rack beds had been shoved in messy stacks against the walls, along with equipment. "It looks like this was a hospital."

Nick had wandered over to a door and reached a cautious paw for the handle. At the last minute, he changed his mind. "You're the exorcist. You open it."

Judy glared, but opened the door anyway. On the other side, a half circle of talismans and mirrors had been set up. The marking on the floor suggested there'd been a full circle, but the circle was open now.

Nick pushed aside Judy's ears and peered over her head. "OK, all clear," he said, as if Judy couldn't see for herself.

"The ritual items are newer than the beds," she remarked as they stepped into the room proper. The aura on them was fresh too, though it was from a badger she'd never met before

"Carrots." Judy found Nick standing by some claw marks.

"Tiger claw marks," she noted from the aura.

"Yeah, but where - "

Suddenly something jumped out at Nick, only to slam into a shield triggered by wards. Behind the shield, a tiger spirit snarled at the two of them.

Wards blazed with power down the entire corridor. Judy headed down it, and found herself surrounded by spirits on all sides, including Ms Manchas. All of them had aura that was boiling black, and she was very glad the protective shields were working.

And there, right at the end of the entire row, was Mr Otterton.

He didn't immediately jump against the shield, so Judy tried to talk to him as she had heard her mother talking to agitated spirits. "Mr Otterton? My name is Judy Hopps. I'm an exorcist and your wife sent me to find you. Will you be willing to follow me back to her?"

Only then did the otter spirit throw itself at the shields with a snarl. Judy and Nick shrank back. "Looks like he's in no hurry to get back to the missus," said Nick, slinking back to the middle of the corridor.

"Not including Ms Manchas, all 13 of the missing guardian spirits are here," Judy realised. "But they're not in any particular order, so what could be the purpose of keeping them here?"

It seemed they would find out soon enough, as two bright auras appeared on the other side of the door.

Throwing a glamour over herself and Nick to divert attention away from them, Judy tugged them both to a free section of the wall. The door opened to reveal the very much alive badger and Mayor Lionheart, minus his retinue of ancestors.

Judy had a phone. It wasn't the newest model, but it had a touchscreen and had survived the spiritually dense Hopps ground as well as phone calls from Judy's parents. Most importantly, it could make video recordings of the very incriminating conversation where Lionheart pretty much admitted he had contained the spirits here.

Unfortunately, it was also a phone and it chose to ring after about five minutes of incriminating conversation. No glamour could mask _that_.

Lionheart and the badger left, closing a circle behind them.

"Argh!" Judy pounded on the door, but it remained shut and conveniently prevented Judy from breaking the bit of the circle she could see outside. She tucked her phone into a pocket and behind the strongest shield she could call up, then drew her sword. "Nick, some help please."

"Um, Carrots. What part of over running water did you forget? My powers are pretty much out of juice."

Judy dredged up every little thing she'd heard about running water from her Academy trainers and her family. "It's just a matter of aura. You can't use your luck because your aura is being suppressed. Here, use some of mine." She concentrated her aura in her free paw, and pressed it into Nick's.

For a moment, Judy's aura hung heavy between them. Then his grip on her paw tightened and she felt a tug -

The door clicked open to reveal the line of the circle and the wolves waiting beyond that.

Judy brought her sword down to slash the circle open anyway. The dispersed power from the circle sent the wolves skidding back and left a convenient gap from them to escape. They ran.

"Even with your aura, I don't think we can push our luck to make an escape." Nick had gone back to floating, leaving Judy to tug him along by his paw without holding on too tight and passing through him instead. The link between their aura helped.

"Not if you use a door," Judy agreed. "But we can use a window."

"A window? Is this the vines all over again?'

"Don't be silly. There weren't any waterfalls then."

"Rabbit!"

There was no time argue to argue. The wolves were now in purist, and the window was right in front of Judy. She let go of Nick, and leapt.

Fine, maybe it was the vines all over again. Judy found herself in free fall, wondering if a shield was enough to keep her phone intact or if she should have opted for something else -

She hit the water, and it completely drowned all her senses. What made her so good at tracking also left her vulnerable to the whims of the water that had its own power. It wanted Judy next. The water was older and more powerful and she could easily let herself be washed away by its flow and cease to be.

But someone was calling her name.

"- Judy!"

Summoned back, she burst through the surface of the water and she was Judy Hopps again. A wet, swimming Judy Hopps, but the water and she were two separate things now. Above the water Nick was barely managing to float, but once he saw she was fine he dashed to the shore to wait.

Judy joined him, immediately checking her phone once she'd got to shore. It powered on fine, and Chief Bogo picked up on the third ring. She'd never been so glad to hear his gruff voice, and almost talked over him to tell him. "Chief Bogo, we've found the otter spirit sir."

 

Standing between her fellow exorcists and Nick while trying to decide who was eyeing whom with more suspicion kept Judy so busy she did not realise a press conference would be happening right until she was standing at the edge of it.

"I didn't think exorcist work would result in a press conference."

Despite being in the range of her aura to keep the other exorcists at bay, Nick didn't seem to mind. "It's Zootopia. We abolished collars because a bunch of spirits made some noise. Spirit related news is big news."

Realising how important the press conference was did not help Judy's nerves. "I've never done a press conference before."

"Alright." Nick stopped lounging and went into teaching mode. "The trick to press conference is to answer their questions with your question and then answer your own question."

Judy only wished she had Nick's confidence. "You should be up there with me. We did this together."

"Do I look like an exorcist? No I do not. Being dead makes that difficulty."

"But we did work well together."

"Was that what it was?" Nick pretended to look confused, but when Judy punched him in the arm he laughed and admitted, "Yes, I guess it was."

That gave Judy the confidence to broach a topic she'd been thinking about. "I know how you feel about pet ghosties, but I really enjoyed working with you. Instead of letting my fellow exorcists side eye you every time you helped me out, I thought, well, maybe we could make your help official."

She pulled out a permit. "I noticed Finnick didn't have a permit for you, and do you know there are two Nicholas Wildes in the system? But if that's you and if this is something you want. I'd like you to be my guardian. Please."

Nick took the permit and stared at it for a long time. Was there something else she was missing? Judy ran through the things her mom had told her when she was trying to get Judy to take Great Uncle Albert with her to Zootopia.

"I'm also told it's traditional to give a gift to a new guardian, but I didn't have time and I don't have anything else on me so here." She handed him the carrot pen. "I'll get you something better later."

Nick seemed undecided about which one he wanted to look at more. Finally he said, "You wouldn't have been too off. The older Nicholas Wilde is my father."

This time he let her take his arm and didn't pull away as he had in the cable car. "I'm glad you told me," Judy said.

"Exorcist Hopps?"

"Assistant Mayor Bellwether?" Judy let the sheep lead her away from Nick.

"I heard you don't have any press conference experience. I'm here to see if you need any help. Us little folk have to look out for each other."

"Oh yes. Yes! I really should have looked for you first. You must have given many press conferences before."

"Not as many as Mayor Lionheart, but I do think I know a thing or two! See, what I find the most useful is to go back to my roots."

"My roots?"

"Yes. All the lessons that our parents taught us, those are the things that stick and come right from the heart. In your case, they're especially useful. I'm sure your parents had a thing or two to share about spirits. You do come from a talented family."

"They are quite the experts on spirits," Judy had to admit.

"So you'll be able to share with Zootopia what they taught you! That's what helped you solve that case, wasn't it?"

Was that what it was? Before she could make sense of that question, Assistant Mayor Bellwether was leading Judy towards the stage. Chief Bogo had vacated the stand with its mess of mics. Judy stepped onto the little step that had been added for her benefit, and looked out at the crowd.

Immediately the questions came fast and furious. At first Nick's technique seemed to be working well, but then someone asked, "As an exorcist, can you explain why these spirits are so dangerous?"

"Yes. Yes I can." She remembered what she had been told in a grove when the moon was just a sliver in the sky. "There are things that come easier to certain spirits. These spirits have skills that make it easier from them to hurt and disturb others. They're known as dark spirits because they've experienced violence that makes them prone to violence themselves."

"But how do you know whether a spirit is dark."

"Animals have powers based on the type of animal they are. The same goes for spirits. The spirits we've found are the types that are capable of violence."

"So you mean tigers? Jaguars?"

"There'll be a formal press release later with all the details," Assistant Mayor Bellwether cut in. "No further questions."

Judy was rather glad to be led away from the suddenly shouting crowd. "Was I OK?"

"You did fine." Then Judy was free to join Nick again.

She hurried over to him, hoping he could help her make sense of what just happened. "That went so fast! I didn't have the chance to mention you, or anything about how we - "

"Oh I think you've said plenty."

She couldn't feel his aura anymore with how tightly it was held against him. She tried to find some hint in his expression for his behaviour, and was strongly reminded of how he was just after she'd refused to give him the pen, back when they were looking for the car. "What's wrong?"

"There are things that come easier to certain spirits? The spirits we've found are the types capable of violence?"

For all he'd asked that quietly, it still felt like an accusation that Judy had to dispel. "I'm just stating facts! Didn't we talk about spirit powers when we were trying to outwit Ms Manchas? She had the ability to evade - "

"And a fox spirit doesn't?"

"Nick, you're not like them."

"Oh there's a them now."

"It's true! You're not that kind of spirit!"

"Fox spirits aren't capable of being violent? Then tell me, how did you get those scars on your face and that bag for hexing foxes in your pocket?"

Judy touched her cheek. Her Dad had made sure it never scarred her physically, but he had mentioned the scars did linger at the soul level. Were those what Nick had been asking about when she was scrying? "That was another fox spirit. It had nothing to do with you."

"You know where I've heard all this before? Back when I was collared, mammals would say to me Nick you're so nice I wouldn't put a collar on you. It's just all these other predators we have to be worried about. So now you're trying to tell me that hex bag is for all the other violent fox spirits." His aura had started to seep into the air around Judy and it was no longer the comforting presence it had been when they'd faced down Chief Bogo. "You aren't afraid of me? You don't think I could go dark?" He was coming closer now, and Judy had never been aware he could loom. "You never wonder if I might hurt you?"

He flashed claws and Judy reached for the most effective thing she had on her person.

Then he was Nick again - a cold distant Nick, but his aura wasn't the oppressive force it had been a moment earlier. Judy found her hand was on the hex bag her parents had made specifically to hurt foxes.

Nick huffed. "Bad things happen when they get to huh," he muttered, so softly only Judy's rabbit hearing let her catch the words. But he was loud and clear when he said, "Probably best you don't have a violent spirit as your guardian."

He shoved something back at her. At first Judy thought it was one of the bags Nick had charmed for Flash, then realised it was the permit, with Nick's aura added to it. Fox-touched, and just lacking Judy's aura to make it official.

But just because an old enough spirit could touch the material world, it didn't mean the spirit itself had to stay solid. Nick had already made his way through the crowd simply by floating through whoever got in his way.

"Nick! Nick!"

She tried to pursue, but the crowd pressed in too close for her to zig and zag around them.

"Exorcist Hopps! Did that fox spirit just threaten you?"

"No. No he's my friend," said Judy, and tried not to choke on the emotion of that word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we finally explain the link between spirits and collars.
> 
> The last chapter should be up soon, but this isn't the end. There'll be a sequel, and some companion fics going up in the next week. I'll update with a schedule once I get enough of a buffer on writing. Stay tuned!


	6. Chapter 6

Chief Bogo was looming over Judy again.

Judy kept at her wards. If he wanted ot chew her out over those, she deserved it, but she wasn't going to volunteer for punishment.

"Very thorough work Hopps."

Judy's ears shot straight up at the startling remark, and stayed that way as Chief Bogo continued. "You've worked elements of your surroundings into your wards. The weaving is intricate, and you added a trigger instead of leaving it up all the time."

Then he tapped the ward and the entire thing disintegrated.

"There's no aura in this. It's an empty husk. I know you're capable of better Hopps. How would the public have any confidence that we'll be able to keep spirits away from the living?"

Even though he'd praised her, Judy felt as if she were being chewed out. Neither did she like the reminder that they had to put up wards to keep the departed separated from the living. It felt like she was enforcing what her mother faced at the fair. It felt like they were proving Nick right.

"Hopps - "

She braced for the command to head back to house calls.

"Walk with me."

"Yes sir - what?"

Chief Bogo had not waited for her response before heading off. Judy hurried to keep up. The Chief wasn't striding as usual, but he still was able to cover in one step what Judy needed to cover in a few. They walked in silence for a while. Judy was curious what the Chief had to say, but didn't want to demand an answer.

"Regarding the missing mammals, I thought you were going to over-promise and under-deliver. Instead, you've done the opposite."

That... was another compliment. The day was getting stranger and stranger. "Thank you sir."

"However. If you intend to continue surprising me, I would prefer if you did that through your success. I have no interest in learning how spectacularly you intend to crash and burn." He stopped in front of a meeting room, and gestured to the door. "After you Hopps."

Figuring he wouldn't give her house calls after his roundabout inspiring spiel, Judy opened the door of the meeting room to find Bellwether waiting for them inside.

"Mayor Bellwether has your next assignment."

"Next assignment?" Bellwether had no documents with her, leaving Judy guessing as she took a seat across from the new Mayor. Chief Bogo joined Judy.

"Yes Judy! As I'm sure you know, spirits have had a bad reputation in Zootopia, what with all the unrest they've caused. Even after we abolished collars, they just wouldn't stop! We were thinking with the latest set of spirits going dark, it would be good for the citizens to know they have someone they can trust."

Judy found herself recalling how cold Nick had gone after she betrayed his trust that she missed a good bit of what Bellwether's speech. She wrenched herself back to the present just as Bellwether said, "That's why we'd like you to be the public face of the ZED."

"No." The response had been a knee-jerk reflex, but now even though Judy had time to think about it, she stayed by that answer despite the disbelieving stares it brought her.

Bellwether was the first to recover. "But Judy, don't you want to make the world a better place?"

"I do want to make the world a better place. But I think I broke it instead. That's why I don't think it's right for me to want to do more."

"If you're feeling nervous we can make some sort of deal," Bellwether pressed.

"No more deals." Judy took hold of the strap of her sword and unbuckled it. Chief Bogo had asked for the right thing at the wrong time. She should have given up her sword before she'd made all these mistakes. Now she lay her sword on the table. "I'm resigning from the ZED."

 

Even though it wasn't a fair day, Judy found herself running a stall of her own.

"Here's your missing rake," she told her neighbour. She'd been enthusiastic when she first started, but now she just let the thanks wash over her.

"I don't think there's a single missing thing left in the county," Dad quipped, as he and Mom came by to wave farewell to the neighbour.

"Great." Judy sat back down and watched her siblings packing produce for delivery under the watchful eye of Great-Uncle Albert. There was a time when simple chores and being surrounded by family both living and departed would have delighted her, but she found no joy in it today.

Dad tilted Judy's chin up and peered into her eyes as if he was checking her over for illness. "Dad?"

"Jude. Jude the dude, you remember that one?"

Whatever reaction Dad had been looking for, Judy's blank expression was no tit. Her Mom cut in, "Judy is everything alright?"

"Just fine."

"But your ears are droopy."

"I'm just wearing a hat Mom. It's hot. I'll go help with the carrots."

"Hazel and Peter are on that already. But if you're sure you're fine, remember your classmate Gideon?"

"Gideon? Gideon Gray?"

"The very same! He's with Aunt Martha now. Maybe it'll do you good to talk to someone your age."

"When did he get to know Aunt Martha?" Judy wondered. "And what's he doing?"

"Baking pies," said Gideon, by way of explanation. He had appeared with a tray with slices of pie on plates. "Sorry to interrupt. Mr and Mrs H, have some of the latest batch."

"Don't mind if we do." Dad took a slice and bit down. When Gideon had stopped being swarmed by hungry rabbits, Dad said around a full mouthful, "You're really putting new spins on Martha's old recipes."

"She's the master. I'm just learning what she's willing to teach."

"Don't listen to Gideon here. He's starting his own bakery."

"It wouldn't be possible if Missus Martha wasn't willing to teach me and you weren't so kind to sell me the produce from your farm." Gideon held out the tray to Judy. "Hi Judy. It's been a while."

"It really has been." Judy took the last plate on the tray, and helped herself to a forkful of pie. "This is really good!"

"Judy adores Martha's pies," Mom explained. "If you've even managed to win her over, you've done well."

"That's great to hear Mrs H. Especially since she's got no good reason to say anything nice to me." He turned over his now empty tray in his hands, worrying both at it and his words. "Judy, I'd just like to say I'm sorry for the way I behaved in my youth. I had a lot of self doubt, and it manifested itself in a form of unchecked rage and aggression. I was a major jerk."

Judy found the corners of her mouth lifting at the unexpected, sincere apology. "I understand. I know a thing or two about being a major jerk."

"Who made my Judy think she's a major jerk?" Great-Uncle Albert piped up from where he was resting in the tree above.

Before Judy could assure him she deserved it, someone else beat her to it. "She was in Zootopia a good three months Hopps. Who's to say she wasn't a major jerk to someone?"

"You want to get out of that tree and repeat that to me again?"

Gideon huffed a sigh and called up, "Gramps Gabe, could you get out of the tree?"

The Gray ancestor waved his nine tails as he gave the simple question much deeper thought than it required. "No. I'm keeping an eye on you."

"And don't start on me too Bonnie. I'm keeping an eye on him."

Judy exchanged shrugs with her Mom. MOm decided to take her plate of pie to Great-Uncle Albert, leaving Judy to settle things with the Grays.

Well if Gideon could apologise, so could Judy. "I'm really sorry about threatening you with a sword when we were kids."

"We were just kids - "

"Don't let her worm her way out of this one Gid. She's a Hopps. She knew what she was doing."

Judy looked up at the Gray ancestor and met his glare. "Yes. Yes I did. And I'm sorry for that."

The only sign the Gray ancestor was still paying attention was the constant flicking of his many tails. Finally he said, "Does your cheek still hurt?"

"No more than it should."

"I could remove the scars."

And that was as close an apology as anyone would get out of any ancestor. Judy grinned up at him. "Thanks very much Mister Gray, but I ought to take responsibility for whatever Iv'e done."

He grinned at her too and Judy realised maybe apologising wasn't that difficult a thing after all.

"Kids! Don't take shortcuts through the Datura stramonium!"

Hazel and Peter fumbled with their load, but managed to detour around the purple flowers.

"Now there's a four dollar word Mr H," Gideon chuckled.

Mister Gray had gone back to being disinterested. "Be easier to just call them Nighthowlers."

Judy and Great-Uncle Albert started, but for entirely different reasons. "Don't go teaching them the nicknames spirits use Gray," Great-Uncle Albert rebuked. "Words have power."

"Knowledge is power." The Gray ancestor gestured at Judy. "Look your kit doesn't even know what that is."

"Well they know well enough to stay away from it and that's all that matters," said Dad. "I don't want a repeat of what happened to their Uncle Terry."

"Yeah," Mom agreed. "Terry ate one whole and his aura went an awful black just before he went completely nuts."

"He bit the dickens out of your mom."

Suddenly the pieces were all falling together. "What happened was he went dark."

"Dark? That's a strong word."

"Factual if you considered his aura. That as pretty dark."

"Dark is what we use for spirits of murderers and thieves."

"Well it'd have been murder if he'd gone for your neck instead of your arm."

Judy dashed towards the truck parked nearby. Now she knew Nighthowlers weren't wolves but flowers, the news had to get back to Zootopia. Besides, she also had an apology to make.

 

Once Judy had gotten the location from Finnick, it was easy enough to find where Nick was. The location Finnick had directed her to was a nice place for a grave - surrounded by green in a rare quiet spot in the city, well-lit by the noon sun now directly overhead. Judy felt Nick's aura as she was crossing the bridge over a dried up river. "Nick!" she called out as she dashed towards the source of the aura. "Nick! Nighthowlers aren't wolves, they're plants toxic to spirits - "

She trailed off as she got closer to the river bed. She had imagined Nick's grave was by the river side, perhaps under some willows. But the sides of the river were untouched by shovels.

She stepped onto the river bed, where running water that dampened spirit aura used to flow. She didn't want to, but she looked beneath the bridge.

Where the running water would have crossed under the bridge before the river had dried up, Nick's aura was thickest. She followed his aura down into the cool darkness. Unmarked earth shifted beneath her feet. Kneeling, she felt the ground and couldn't look away from the truth anymore.

This, here, was Nick's grave.

This was a grave for murderers and thieves; for the darkest spirits that couldn't be allowed to move on, only contained. This was even worse than imagining Nick being buried in his collar. Faced with the injustice Nick had faced, that Nick continued to face, that Judy had unthinkingly been a part of, Judy wept.

"If you're here for a pity party Hopps, you can leave right now."

"Nick?"

Nick had manifested by the head of his grave. This was the Nick Judy had left behind at the press conference - aura held in tight and cold and distant. Absently she noted his tie was pulled in tight to give him a more formal look.

"Why did they do this to you?" she asked.

"Weren't you the one teaching Spirit Power 101? People expect foxes to be dangerous spirits. It doesn't matter whether we're stealing souls, eating livers or seducing others. We just have to be contained.

"But you're not a murderer."

"And I was a convicted murderer too. Sorry sweetheart, I'm the dark spirit your parents probably warned you about. So hop along."

A more ignorant Judy Hopps would have left at this point. This Judy Hopps stayed her ground. "What actually happened?"

That left Nick blinking at her, and his aura briefly unfurled in surprise. He soon pulled everything back in. "Someone was mauled to death in my speakeasy. I was moving the body so the children wouldn't see it and the police jumped to conclusions. You should know something about that."

It had been easy enough to acknowledge to someone else that she had been a major jerk. It was a lot harder to do that to the one she'd really hurt.

"If you're not walking, I am. Good day."

"Wait!" Judy called after Nick's retreating back. "I know you'll never forgive me, and I don't blame you I wouldn't forgive me either."

That stopped Nick at the edge of the tunnel. Now Judy had started, the apology came out in a tumble. "I was ignorant, and irresponsible, and small minded. But neither you, or any other spirit, should suffer because of my mistakes. I have to fix this. But I can't do it without you. And afterward, you can hate me - " And it hurt Judy to even think that, and made the tears start anew, but Judy had to let Nick know. "And that would be right because I was a horrible friend, and I hurt you, and you can walk away knowing you were right all along. I really am just a dumb bunny."

She was too busy listening for the moment that Nick would walk away that she didn't expect her own voice to come back at her. "I really am just a dumb bunny."

Just for good measure, Nick played it again. "This is a pretty useful gift," he quipped as he twirled the pen. "Don't worry Carrots, I'll let you delete it in 48 hours."

Despite her tears, Judy found herself smiling. Nick had gone corporeal again and when they hugged the hug was solid and comforting as was the sphere of his aura, no longer held in tight.

"You bunnies, so emotional," he said, patting the top of her head. "Very good. Deep breaths. And don't try to steal the pen. You gave it to me, no take backsies."

They left the quiet green place and Nick's grave. Judy had to fix things, but in order.

 

Getting Weaselton to squeal about the buyer for the _Datura stramonium_ was easy, especially when Mr Big agreed to apply the pressure. Under threat from a vampire, Weaselton gave a location and a name - Doug.

"So what's the plan?" Apparently Hopps produce wasn't just tasty to Bunnyburrow spirits. Spirits didn't exactly chew and digest, but if they passed through food they could enjoy the taste and smell. Nick had been in the blueberries a few times already, and she'd spotted him tucking away a few now. The carrot pen was also suspiciously missing too.

"We find this Doug at the abandoned train station and see if we can get evidence of the Nighthowlers to Chief Bogo. If the effects on the spirits are proven, we can show they were under duress."

"Like being charmed, only for spirits."

The plan sounded easy enough, especially when they got to the protection spells on the train station. The wards were like those at Cliffside, right down tot he same unique finishing twist. Judy wouldn't be surprised if they were made by the same person. Without wolves keeping watch nearby and the similarity in the wards, Judy was able to make short work of them.

The train car that they found didn't seem to need those level of wards. Just to be sure, Judy cast a glamour over herself and Nick.

"I thought it was just the effect of running water, but this is tingly."

"Shush, this isn't a full on shield. They'll find us if they're looking hard enough."

They made it over the tracks and to the door of the train cart without any hiccups. Peering in, they found rows and rows of Nighthowlers growing in trays. In plant form, they didn't seem too intimidating and had no discernable aura. What seemed more dangerous was the ram on the far end of the car, using his shoulder to keep a phone to his ear. He didn't have an obvious aura that suggested spirit powers, but the horns on his head were still intimidating.

Trusting Nick's power to keep the ram looking away, Judy eased the door open. When the ram didn't turn, she ducked under the trays of Nighthowlers. Even with this proximity, they didn't have any effect on her aura. She glanced at Nick, who was sticking close to her, and found his aura seemed fine too.

Together, they crept closer to the ram to listen in on his conversation. "Look, I can hit anything, even a cheetah," the ram was boasting to whoever it was on the phone. Even with her rabbit hearing, Judy couldn't hear what the person on the other end was saying from the cover of the final tray of Nighthowlers. She turned her attention to a setup any apothecary or chemist would have been jealous of. While listening to his caller, the raw threw more plants into a press. That had the knock on effect of adding more dark purple juice to a complicated set up of tubes and flasks, including a round bottom flask over a flame. The ram turned a knob to fill a glass bead with the processed juice, and briefly ran it through the flame to seal it.

"You give me a target and I'll get it done. See you on the news." The ram hung up on his caller and packed the glass bead and a dissembled gun into a suitcase. Some banging on the door Judy and Nick had come in from made his stop his processing of packing and head to answer the door.

Now was Judy's chance. She left the cover of the trays, trusting her glamour to keep her protected.

"Whatever you're thinking, stop thinking it! Carrots!

"I need evidence."

Nick nabbed the suitcase. "Ok, we got it."

"No, we need all of this." Judy pushed through the doors opposite to where they'd come in from. Needing to keep within the cover of her glamour, Nick followed.

"Are you a train conductor now?"

"No. Just a very lucky rabbit." Judy flicked switches as she explained. "I need to get this entire setup to ZED so they can check if there's anything special about the arrangement of the plants or the apothecary's setup. There's no effect on aura now, but testing might turn up something."

"That's if you can get this train car to move. It'll take a miracle to get this started. Even with our auras, my power can't - "

Judy pulled on the handle that controlled the speed and the train jerked to life.

"Well, hallelujah."

"Don't sell your powers short. I don't think you've even maxed what you're capable of."

"Not everyone's had formal training, Exorcist Hopps." He suddenly looked to the back. "Uh oh, incoming!"

He slammed the door shut on the ram's attempt to headbutt them. THe force made the lock fall neatly into place.

"As I said, don't sell your powers short."

"I still think the suitcase would be enough evidence - " The ram chose to smash into the glass window of the door just then. He was too big to fit through, but the yelled threats weren't helping Judy's concentration.

Or the shouting could be just a diversion so Judy almost missed another ram that had somehow gotten onto the roof of the car and had burst in through the hatch on top. The newcomer jostled Judy for the controls. Judy really wished she had her sword, but she settled for kicking the ram in the face.

Nick started to slow the train down. Judy took the brief reprieve to observe the tracks. "Keep going at full speed!"

"We'll crash!"

"No we won't."

"Rabbit, if this is the vines thing all over again - "

"Just do it!"

Nick cranked the speed, and Judy angled her binding spell such that it threw the ram she had kicked in the face onto the switch for the rails. The ram on the other side of the door pulled himself free and chose to jump out after his friend. That left Judy and Nick facing the brick wall of a sealed off station.

In unison they leapt from the car, going the opposite way from the very solid brick wall. A good thing too - the train car exploded barely a moment later.

Judy's ears flopped straight down. "I've lost all the evidence."

"You would have. Except you just happen to know a fox spirit with some tricks." Nick held up the suitcase with the Night howler pellet and gun.

Judy didn't know if she had been leaning on Nick's powers that heavily, but their train had crashed just below the Natural History Museum. The ZED headquarters were just across the square, putting them in almost the right place. They just had to get across the darkened hallways of the museum.

Perhaps it was Nick's luck that they didn't even have to do that. "Judy!"

"Mayor Bellwether!" Relief had Judy slowing her steps as she turned to face the sheep. "We've found out what's behind the spirits going dark! We have the evidence here."

"I know you could do it. Why don't you give me the suitcase?"

Judy had gotten this far by trusting her rabbit senses. Although she was looking at the bright open face of Bellwether, Judy realised all this time she had not actually been able to read Bellwether's aura. She held it close, just as nick had immediately after the press conference. It seemed she just plain didn't want anyone to know her emotions. Besides, coming straight from Bunnyburrow, Judy found the lack of spirits - any spirits at all - around Bellwether in this less formal situation was disconcerting. Instead she was flanked by heavyset rams in exorcist uniform that looked like they could given oxen and horse exorcists a run for their money.

"We'll just take this to Chief Bogo." Judy turned back to the exit facing ZED only to find yet another ram blocking that entrance.

In the darkened hallway of the Natural History Museum, a ball rang out clean and clear.

Nick's aura faltered. "Judy - "

Without thinking twice Judy took hold of his paw and shared her aura with him as she pulled them into a run again. Each time the bell pealed, Nick flexed his claws in Judy's grasp. "Judy," he grit out. "Just leave me. She's a medium with a bell. I don't think I can fight her control."

"You don't have to. Let me do the fighting." Judy knew she could. Her family was in the same line as the Bellwethers after all. She anticipated the next ring of the bell, and flared her aura at the same time as its peal. This time, Nick did not flash his claws.

"Judy! Why are you fighting me? We're the same kind!"

It wasn't worth the breath needed to argue the appalling untruths in such a sweeping generalisation. Judy stuck to running, even as she despaired at the length of the hallway. Why wasn't she at the end yet?"

"We're from spiritually powerful families in a world terrified of spirits. And yet we're overlooked, underestimated... Aren't you sick of it?"

Bellwether rang her bell again, but Judy didn't just flare her aura. She sacrificed some of her attention for a brief shield. Let Bellwether think of something to counter that.

"If the world is inherently unfair, why shouldn't we stack the odds in our favour? Why shouldn't we be the ones in control?"

Aura flared like a struck match, followed by a crack. Two cracks really. Judy felt her leg give way as Bellwether snapped Judy's leg like a twig.

She fell hard, with the suitcase making an uncomfortable cushion for her landing. Nick stumbled over Judy, then righted himself and tugged her into the shadows that he closed around them like curtains.

That was how Judy managed to see the voodoo doll with rabbit ears in Bellwether's hands. With a broken leg and no way of travelling back to the past to prevent Bellwether from taking fur samples any of the times they had met, there was nothing Judy could do about it. "Just consider us now," said Bellwether. "You and I both know I could snap you in half with this doll. That's what control is all about. Just as the Nighthowler serum is the right solution to a chaotic world. Yet you throw in your lot with a spirit? Is that spirit really worth it? Or do you plan to be the saviour for all spirits? Why? Is that how you plan to take power? With admiration? You don't have to bother with all that! Look at how things are working out so well for me! I even had you working for me Judy, when all this first started."

If Bellwether was as good a medium as Judy thought she was, their window for escape was closing. Judy tuned Bellwether's speech out and focused on what mattered. "Take the suitcase. Leave me," Judy grit out around the pain.

"Ha. Funny you should say that Carrots, when you just refused to elave me earlier."

"You can disappear with the suitcase and get it to Chief Bogo."

"Or I could deliver it straight to Bellwether once she goes back to that bell. Without you I don't stand a chance." He pulled the handkerchief from wherever he had hidden it and sent blueberries rolling all over as he wrapped it around her leg. "Blueberry?"

"Pass," Judy groaned. "You can't carry me all the way to ZED. Keeping corporeal will cost you concentration in fighting her."

"Long distance running is not part of my skill set." He opened the suitcase and popped the glass bead into Judy's pocket. "Luckily, tricks are. Cottonball back there seems fixated on this." He held up an assembled gun and some blueberries. "Are you up for a hustle?"

Judy grinned as she guessed at Nick's plan. "Am I ever."

"That's the best case scenario. If she decides to break more than just your leg, if I really go dark - "

"We'll think of something. We always do."

He loaded the gun. "Oh and since she's such a yakkity yak." He tossed Judy the carrot pen too.

"Nick Wilde, you are a mammal after my own heart."

"Let's hope she's dumber than I was. Upsy-daisy."

Judy tried not to think about what it was costing Nick to hold himself so solid he could take enough of her weight for her to stand upright. Instead she asked him, "You ready?"

"No, probably never, but let's do this." Nick drew back the shadows like curtains on a play.

They attempted a heroic dash that probably was more of a hobble, but that didn't matter. One of the sheep tossed off a binding spell hard enough to throw Nick and Judy into a pit displaying a diorama of the distant past. Judy felt around for the weak point in the binding spell and snapped it.

"Impressive," said Bellwether, still attempting the earnest act despite looming at the edge of the pit. "Your mother taught you all that and didn't teach you how to use a bell?"

Judy stood as well as she could on her one leg, ears up, back straight. She didn't need confidence when she had conviction. "Unlike you, I'm not interested in having pet ghosties."

"All that defiance and power still leaves you down there while I'm up here."

"You can't use that voodoo doll or bell to get rid of me. The exorcists will be able to find your aura."

"That's one of the few things you are right about. But I have a more elegant solution."

Judy thumbed the recording button of the pen in her pocket. "The Nighthowler serum? The exorcists will still be able to find you."

"Judy Judy Judy. I've been using the serum on spirits for months and the exorcists haven't been able to find a thing." This time Bellwether's smile chilled Judy to the bone. "They won't know about your little friend here too."

Bellwether had already fired before Judy could attempt a shield. Bellwether's aim was true, and even though Judy knew what caused the stain across Nick's neck she still felt a true flare of panic. Nick dropped to the ground, Judy following to make sure he had indeed been just hit by a blueberry. This close Judy could tell the roiling in Nick's aura was from him, not the berry. "Nick! Fight it!"

"But he can't help it, he's just the type of spirit that's capable of violence!'

"If that's what he is then why do you need to dart him with the Nighthowler before anything happens?"

Nick shoved Judy away at that moment. To Judy's own surprise once Judy was out of range Nick let his aura go jagged at the edges.

"I suppose the spirits need a bit of help. I didn't think he was capable of that just looking at him. Oh no, I'm so scared. I think I'll call in the exorcists."

Judy didn't bother listening to Bellwether's call to ZED. She was more interested in Nick tapping powers she had been aware he had, but he had never showed. This time when Nick let his aura flare Judy could feel the teeth in it. His two tails lashed as he dropped to all fours. He was all sharp edges now - sharp ears sharp claws sharp teeth. This was the vengeful spirit that couldn't be allowed to move on, that had to be buried six feet under running water under a bridge. This, here, was what others feared.

But Judy found she wasn't afraid, not as she had been during the fight with Ms Manchas. Now she knew Nick had every right to be vengeful yet chose to play with words and tricks. Now she could see past Nick's aura, a deep green so close to black, to the spirit behind it.

At that moment, Judy felt that _she_ was the one capable of violence instead.

Bellwether was buying into their hustle. "I can see the headlines now," Bellwether was saying. "Hero exorcist killed by dark spirit."

Judy tossed off a binding spell to delay Nick and give Bellwether more rope to hang herself. "Mammals are already scared of spirits! What do you get out of this?'

"Judy, spirits are just an outward sign of how broken the world is. Once they're gone, we can see about putting things back the way they were."

Nick snapped the binding much as Judy had earlier. Judy threw a stuffed deer at Nick that he simply passed through. She found her back hitting the side of the pit and put up a shield.

"Spirits completely gone? Predators back in collars?" Judy demanded of Bellwether. Nick made a show of prowling around the shield as Ms Manchas had. "And that's supposed to leave you in power."

"That's the way the world was before spirits broke it. And I'll dart every spirit in Zootopia to restore that status quo."

They had got what they needed. But Judy, despite her rabbit senses, did not feel any aura belonging to an exorcist nearby. They needed more time.

The thing with fox spirits was that if there was even the barest change that something could happen, they could make it happen. Nick seemed to have decided what should happen now was for Judy's shield to shatter.

That left her open to the teeth now in Nick's aura. It hurt now like she had expected it to on the cable car platform back in Rainforest distract. Nick crunched bits of shield as he closed in. This was the closest that Judy had ever been to a spirit marked by violence. Yet all Judy could feel was a sense of pride that Nick's powers were capable of much more. Eyes closed, she ignored Bellwether's taunts and focused on Nick's aura that made sense through the pain. She offered herself up, and let go.

Without her aura, Nick's aura snapped shut around her like a mouse trap. His teeth were next, tightening around her throat. He had the strength to hold her up and help her walk. He could have snapped her neck with that same strength.

But he did not snap her like Bellwether had earlier. Instead he bit down just enough to be convincing, but Judy still breathed.

Judy probably should have screamed at the slight prick of pain. Instead she found herself laughing.

Nick let go with a sigh. "Carrots, you're ruining my performance."

Judy didn't explain how happy she was a proving Bellwether wrong. Instead she said, "I'm sorry but she is dumber than you were."

"You're right about that. I think we got it. I think we got it, thanks Yakkity Yak." Aura smooth again, Nick helped Judy to her feet and focus his strength on holding her upright. Bellwether, for once, was at a loss for words.

"Are you looking for the serum?" Judy made sure to ask with faux sweetness honed to perfect irritation on multiple siblings. "I have that right here. What you have there are blueberries. From my family's farm."

Nick on the other hand still had plenty of teeth in his smile. "They are delicious. You should try some. Or not, since you find spirits so frightening."

Bellwether's stunned expression morphed into a determined scowl. "You shouldn't have let me know you had the serum Judy. Now I can frame you just as I framed Lionheart. It's your word against mine."

"Actually, it's your word against your word." Judy played back the recording for Bellwether, feeling her grin grow wider and wider by the minute. "It's called a hustle, sweetheart. Boom."

Bellwether took a step back, but there was no window of escape left for her. The ZED had arrived.

 

Judy stepped out of the car and strapped on the sword she had taken off during the drive. She breathed in deep. Zootopia was fine and dandy, but the air of home was a lot better. The earth beneath her feet felt good too and grounded her nicely.

Nick was still in the borrowed car. "Remind me why we had to come all this way Carrots. We've got a perfectly good permit stating I'm your guardian. What's with meeting the folks?"

"That's just paperwork. _This_ is tradition."

"Tradition to hang out in an empty field? Are you hiding your family under a stone somewhere. Or wait, is that why they call this place Bunnyburrow? You all live underground away from the light?"

Judy laughed. "Come out and see."

Nick left the dark of the car and blinked in the sunlight. "Hopps, how large is your home again?"

"We don't actually live all this way out, but we have been looking after this place for a long time."

Instead of facing a threshold, Nick looked like he was facing Mr Big again. "It won't seem so frightening in a moment." She stepped over to her family's side of the threshold, then gestured to Nick. "Nick Wilde, come on over."

He looked between her and the threshold. Then he reached for her offered hand across the threshold, held on tight and stepped over into Judy's world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had writing this.
> 
> If you want more Wilde Spirit adventures, the sequel should be posted this Sunday. There'll be a lot more spirits, a lot more collars, and if all goes well Wilde Times will even come into the picture.
> 
> Hope to see you there too!


End file.
